Biden's campaign team begins taking shape

President Joe Biden is eyeing longtime Democratic operative Michael Tyler for the role of communications director on his 2024 campaign, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.

Tyler has held numerous high-ranking positions within the Democratic Party in addition to working at various groups within the progressive advocacy ecosystem. He recently helped the city of Atlanta with its unsuccessful bid for the Democratic National Convention in addition to working on Sen. Cory Booker’s 2020 presidential campaign and as chief of staff for the Democratic National Committee.

Tyler is widely regarded as a savvy operative with extensive experience on ballot access issues and party infrastructure matters. But he has also operated largely behind the scenes, suggesting that the communications director role for the campaign is not being envisioned as public facing.

Both people familiar with the deliberations cautioned that no decision has been made. But Biden’s consideration of Tyler for the senior position is another marker of a campaign in waiting inching closer to an actual announcement.

The president is slated to release a video as soon as Tuesday that would formally declare his intention to run for office again — though like any Biden-specific decision, it is subject to his whims and the timing could change.

But the president and his top aides are well into the process of identifying some prominent staffers for the reelection effort. He is eyeing Julie Chavez Rodriguez, who is currently a senior adviser and assistant to the president, for the role of campaign manager.

While she has extensive experience from working in both the Biden and Obama White Houses, and has served on previous campaigns, Rodriguez has not held a job that approaches the typical responsibilities of a campaign manager in a presidential race. Bloomberg was first to report that Rodriguez was under serious consideration for the post after POLITICO and other outlets included her name in several stories about Biden’s shortlist.

Biden famously keeps close counsel and has leaned on largely the same group of aides to chart his political career over the course of several decades. But, like Tyler, Rodriguez is not widely considered to be a core Biden insider, suggesting that the president may be looking to expand — and diversify — his inner circle as he embarks on a bid for a second term at the age of 80.