Biden Names Historic All-Female Communications Team
With less than 50 days until President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated, he has begun naming and nominating people who will be joining his administration. Among these announcements was a senior communications team that consisted only of experienced, qualified, women.
Jennifer Psaki, a long known speaker of the Democratic party, will be Biden’s press secretary. In a role that connects the country to the White House, a member of Biden’s team has promised that Psaki will bring, “fact, transparency and honesty, and even a sense of comfort,” to the podium.
Karine Jean-Pierre, who was a campaign advisor for Biden and a top official with the liberal group MoveOn, will join the team as principal deputy press secretary.
Pili Tobar, who worked for the liberal immigration policy group, America’s Voice, and was a staffer in Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office, will serve as deputy White House communications director.
Kate Bedingfield will serve as Biden’s communications director, a position she held on the campaign trail.
Some members of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ team will be Ashley Etienne, who worked on the Biden campaign as a senior advisor and communications director for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Symone Sanders, a senior advisor on Biden’s campaign. Etienne will serve as the VP’s communications director and Sanders will become chief spokeswoman.
Elizabeth Alexander will serve as communications director to the first lady. Alexander was a campaign advisor and a spokeswoman for Biden while he was Vice President.
VP-elect Harris made a statement on the announcement, “Our country is facing unprecedented challenges – from the coronavirus pandemic to the economic crisis, to the climate crisis, and a long-overdue reckoning over racial injustice,” Harris said. “To overcome these challenges, we need to communicate clearly, honestly, and transparently with the American people, and this experienced, talented, and barrier-shattering team will help us do that.”
Throughout his campaign, Biden promised to bring people into his administration that “looks like America.” So far, he has made history with the first woman Vice President, the first half-Black and half-South Asian person to be VP, an all-female senior communications team, and the historic nominations of Neera Tanden and Cecilia Rouse.
Tanden was nominated as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Having parents who emigrated from India, Tanden will be the first woman of color to oversee the agency, if confirmed. Biden appointed Rouse for the position of chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. As a Black woman, Rouse will be the first woman of color to chair the council.
“These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better,” Biden said of his communications team in a statement.
Biden is expected to continue naming people who will be apart of his administration leading up to his inauguration.
