Biden campaign names top voter turnout operative as chief of staff

Joe Biden’s campaign is installing a top voter turnout operative as its chief of staff.

Sara Schreiber, who most recently led the progressive nonprofit America Votes, comes on as the campaign scales up staffing at headquarters and in the battleground states. Her hire, which will be announced on Thursday, was shared first with POLITICO.

Schreiber’s hiring comes amid complaints from Democratic officials and strategists that the Biden campaign isn’t expanding its in-state infrastructure quickly enough, especially compared to other recent presidential reelection campaigns. More than a dozen Democratic operatives in battleground states, many of whom were granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, told POLITICO recently that they worry the sluggish hiring rate slows the rest of the campaign machinery, from building out a coordinated organizing program, to planning for voter protection programs, to hiring more junior staff.

But in the last week, the Biden campaign has named top hires in Nevada, Michigan and South Carolina. And earlier on Thursday, the Biden campaign rolled out a slate of staffers in Wisconsin, including Garren Randolph, who served as a senior adviser to Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ campaign and will be Biden’s state campaign manager. Devin Remiker, executive director of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, and Tanya Bjork, a longtime Wisconsin operative who’s worked on multiple presidential campaigns, will both be senior advisers.

That still leaves Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania without Biden campaign staffers, but Democratic operatives in those states expect the campaign to announce additional aides in the coming weeks.

“We’ve been building a diverse, talented and dedicated team ready to reelect President Biden and Vice President Harris, and Sara embodies the grit, experience, and relationships that are needed to reach and mobilize our coalition to win next November,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, said in a statement shared with POLITICO.