Jen O'Malley Dillon

Jennifer Brigid O'Malley Dillon (born September 28, 1976)[1] is an American political strategist and campaign manager serving as the White House deputy chief of staff under President Joe Biden. She was the manager of Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. O'Malley Dillon previously served as the manager of Beto O'Rourke's 2020 presidential campaign. She is the first female presidential campaign manager for a winning Democratic ticket.[2]

Jen O'Malley Dillon
White House Deputy Chief of Staff
Assumed office
January 20, 2021
Serving with Bruce Reed
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byEmma Doyle
Personal details
Born
Jennifer Brigid O'Malley

(1976-09-28) September 28, 1976
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Children3
RelativesMatt O'Malley (cousin)
EducationTufts University (BA)

Early life and education

O'Malley Dillon's great-grandparents were Irish Catholic immigrants from Gorumna Island, County Galway.[3][4] Born in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, O'Malley Dillon has three siblings. Her parents are Kevin O'Malley, a school administrator, and Kathleen O'Malley.[5] When O'Malley Dillon was a child the family relocated from Jamaica Plain to Franklin, Massachusetts, to be closer to her father's job.[5]

O'Malley Dillon attended Tufts University, where she majored in political science and was captain of the university's softball team.[5] In 1998, she earned her bachelor's degree.[6][7] O'Malley Dillon decided she wanted to work in politics while on a family vacation to Washington, D.C..[5]

Career

O'Malley Dillon's first role in politics was answering phones for Massachusetts attorney general Scott Harshbarger. She joined Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign as a field organizer in 1999 and rose to become a regional field director by the end of the campaign. She worked as a field director for the U.S. Senate campaigns of Tim Johnson and Mary Landrieu. In 2003, she worked as Iowa field director for John Edwards's 2004 presidential campaign, and, after Edwards left the race, became deputy campaign manager for Senator Tom Daschle's reelection campaign.[6][7]

In 2007, she again went to work for John Edwards on his 2008 presidential campaign as his Iowa state director and later deputy campaign manager. After Edwards was again eliminated, O'Malley Dillon joined Barack Obama's presidential campaign for the general election as battleground states director. After Obama's election, she worked on the presidential transition as associate director of personnel, and then was hired as the executive director of the Democratic National Committee under Tim Kaine.[6][7]

In 2011, she joined Obama's 2012 reelection campaign as deputy campaign manager, contributing to Project Narwhal.[8] After Obama's reelection, she co-founded the political consulting firm Precision Strategies with fellow Obama campaign alumni Stephanie Cutter and Teddy Goff. She led Precision's consulting effort for the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election.[6][7]

After the 2016 United States presidential election, she was chair of the Democratic National Committee's Unity Reform Commission. In 2019, she was involved in an effort by Democratic Party data and political personnel to create a data exchange to allow for greater information sharing between Democratic campaigns and allies, a project that party leaders see as crucial for catching up with the Republican data program.[9] Later in 2019, she was hired as manager of Beto O'Rourke's 2020 presidential campaign.[6][7][10]

In April 2020, O'Malley Dillon was announced as the new manager for Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. She succeeded Greg Schultz and Anita Dunn, who had shared campaign management duties for the previous month and remained with the campaign as senior advisors.[9] Biden's sister Valerie Biden Owens had previously served as campaign manager for all of Biden's campaigns. In his 2020 campaign, Owens played a senior advisory role and was also active on the campaign trail.[11] On November 16, 2020, it was announced that O'Malley Dillon would assume the role of White House deputy chief of staff in the administration.[12][13]

Personal life

O'Malley Dillon is married to Patrick Dillon. They have three children. Her second cousin is Matt O'Malley.[5]

References
  1. Jen O'Malley Dillon [@jomalleydillon] (September 28, 2018). "For my birthday I'm honoring women by giving them money. Here's my list so far-Will take requests" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. Smith, Chris. ""She Is a Master": Joe Biden's Campaign Manager Told the Political Future—And Was Right". Vanity Fair (7 November 2020). Retrieved 8 November 2020.
  3. O'Malley / Conneely Family History
  4. Weaver, Courtney (November 20, 2020). "History maker: how Jen O'Malley Dillon steered Joe Biden's run to the White House". The Irish Times. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  5. King, Alison (16 November 2020). "Who Is Mass. Native Jennifer O'Malley Dillon? Meet Biden's New Deputy Chief of Staff". NBC Boston. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  6. "Beto for America". Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  7. "Jen O'Malley Dillon". Precision Strategies. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  8. Christmas, S. A. (2014, June 10). Vice President for Legal Investigations letter complaining of violations of the FEC Act by Obama for America, etc. [Letter written January 8, 2014 to Office of General Counsel, Federal Election Commission]. Retrieved November 17, 2020, from https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/6772/15044380595.pdf
  9. Scherer, Michael (March 12, 2020). "Joe Biden appoints Jen O'Malley Dillon as new campaign manager". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  10. Svitek, Patrick (March 25, 2016). "Beto O'Rourke hires former top Obama aide as campaign manager". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
  11. News Biden Campaign accessed 11/11/2020
  12. Merica, Dan; Zeleny, Jeff (November 16, 2020). "Biden campaign manager Jen O'Malley Dillon to get top White House job". CNN. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
  13. Korecki, Natasha; Thompson, Alex (November 16, 2020). "Biden begins to fill top White House positions". Politico. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
Political offices
Preceded by
Emma Doyle		 White House Deputy Chief of Staff
2021–present		 Incumbent
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