President Joe Biden is expected to tap Julie Rodriguez, a senior White House adviser, to manage his reelection campaign, two people familiar with deliberations on the matter said Sunday.
The people spoke on condition of anonymity because Rodriguez’s appointment has not been finalized and Biden has yet to formally launch his reelection campaign. CBS News was first to report that Biden has decided to pick Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, a longtime Democratic party activist, also worked in former President Barack Obama’s White House. She’s the granddaughter of labor leader Cesar Chavez and labor activist Helen Fabela Chávez.
Growing up in California she was active in campaigns, picket lines, boycotts, marches and union meetings.
She has served as Biden’s director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs since the beginning of his presidency and added the senior adviser role last June.
Rodriguez also has deep ties to Vice President Kamala Harris. She served on Harris’ Senate staff and on Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign as national political director and traveling chief of staff. She went on to be hired by Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign as a deputy campaign manager and senior adviser for Latino outreach.
Biden is expected to formally announce his 2024 reelection campaign as soon as this week, according to three people briefed on the discussions.
The people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said they were not aware that a final decision on timing had been made, but that Biden had been eyeing Tuesday, April 25, four years to the day since the Democrat entered the 2020 race. The upcoming announcement is expected to be in the form of a video released to supporters.
Biden, 80, has repeatedly said he intends to run for a second term but advisers say he has felt little need to jump into campaigning because he faces no significant opposition to his party’s nomination.
Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Darlene Superville contributed reporting.
