By Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden has selected Julie Chavez Rodriguez, a senior adviser at the White House and deputy campaign manager of his 2020 presidential campaign, to be his campaign manager for the 2024 election, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Rodriguez, who is director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, has accepted the role, the source said.
Biden, a Democrat, has said he plans to run for re-election. He could make a formal announcement as early as Tuesday.
The president, 80, is gearing up for what could be a bruising campaign. His team has been eyeing Wilmington, Delaware, where Biden has a home, as the base for the campaign.
Biden had been considering at least three people for the campaign manager role, according to Democratic sources familiar with the deliberations.
The choice of Rodriguez may be a win of sorts for Vice President Kamala Harris, who has struggled to win over the Washington establishment during her tenure; Rodriguez was a senior aide on then-Senator Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign and had worked in her Senate office.
Biden is expected to keep his circle of close advisers at the White House even as he runs for re-election. His former campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon is now a White House deputy chief of staff.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Diane Craft)
