- The move comes as a series of polls show Donald Trump leading Biden
- White House aides Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Mike Donilon will campaign
- Follows the advice of Obama and others to send top people to Wilmington
President Joe Biden is shaking up his campaign structure amid calls to refocus his attacks on Donald Trump and a series of polls showing him in a tight race or trailing his rival.
News of the move came as the nation’s eyes were on New Hampshire, where Trump defeated Nikki Haley and Biden soared past Rep. Dean Phillips in a hands-off write-in effort.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Jennifer O’Malley Dillon and Mike Donilon, both longtime trusted advisers to Biden, are each moving to the campaign.
It followed calls from prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, to tap some of the existing talent in the White House to build Biden’s campaign operation in Wilmington, Delaware.
Former President Joe Biden shakes up his campaign, sending two trusted White House aides to his campaign operation in Wilmington
Campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez will remain in her post and the campaign issued statements in her name on Tuesday evening, but it is not yet clear how the roles will play out.
Biden praised both in a statement, saying he was “grateful that, by rejoining the campaign, they are doing one more time to ensure we finish the job for the American people.”
O’Malley Dillon led Biden’s successful 2020 campaign, when the campaign had to immediately reinvent itself due to the pandemic.
Donilon has been a trusted advisor for many years. Both travel regularly with the president.
Deputy Chief of Staff Jennifer O’Malley Dillon (R) shifts to Biden’s re-election campaign in Delaware
Mike Donilon has been a Biden advisor for many years
The move came as Trump won New Hampshire, and Biden said the race was essentially decided
“Mike played a critical role as chief strategist of my 2020 campaign to defeat Donald Trump and restore the Soul of the Nation, and his return to the campaign will ensure we win in 2024,” Biden said in a statement.
The move follows a report that former President Barack Obama had lunch with Biden and told him and his aides that the campaign needed more top people and “decision makers” at campaign headquarters.
Trump leads Biden by 3 points in the RealClearPolitics average, even as the former president faces multiple charges. His approval ratings have been low for more than a year, despite a decline in inflation and persistently low unemployment.
A campaign statement Tuesday night about New Hampshire by Chavez Rodriguez called the Republican race all but over, even as Nikki Haley vowed to fight on and take new chances on Trump’s age and acuity.
“Tonight’s results confirm that Donald Trump has all but blocked the Republican Party nomination, and that the election-denying, anti-freedom MAGA movement has completed its takeover of the Republican Party,” she said.