In a major post-New Hampshire shakeup, President Joe Biden is moving two of his senior-most White House advisers to bolster his reelection campaign as his focus shifts to the likely general election rematch with former President Donald Trump in November.
Campaign aides said the moves of his deputy chief of staff Jen O’Malley Dillon, his 2020 campaign manager, and senior adviser Mike Donilon to the campaign had been expected. Though some prominent Democrats had expressed worries about Biden’s operation in Wilmington, campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez is keeping her role.
The announcement comes on the same day as the New Hampshire primary, where Trump cemented his hold on core Republican voters with a victory there and Biden scored a write-in win in a race he wasn’t even formally contesting.
The shakeup allows the aides, who have been key to managing Biden’s political activities and messaging inside the White House, to take on more overtly political roles on the campaign ahead of an expected campaign against Trump.
Biden’s campaign jumped on the New Hampshire results to embrace the likely rematch with Trump, believing their path to victory in November lies in clarifying the choice for voters between the two men.
“Tonight’s results confirm Donald Trump has all but locked up the GOP nomination, and the election denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party,” said Chavez Rodriguez in a statement.
The staffing moves were in part meant to quell unease among worried Democrats that Biden could badly lose the upcoming race against Trump, with the timing of the announcement meant to signal the start of a more forceful general election effort as Trump closes in on the GOP nomination.
Donilon is among Biden’s longest-serving and closest aides and has been central to developing Biden’s argument that democracy is at stake as the president expects to face off against Trump once again.
O’Malley Dillon has become a trusted adviser to Biden since she was brought in to help run his general election bid in 2020 and then at the White House overseeing politics and operations.
The campaign said Donilon would focus on advertising and strategy, while O’Malley Dillon would work on organizing and the electoral mechanics.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article