Biden for President Announces Vice Presidential Selection Committee Co-Chairs

Biden for President Announces Vice Presidential Selection Committee Co-Chairs

Today, Biden for President announced the four co-chairs of the campaign’s Vice Presidential Selection Committee: former U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd; U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester; Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti; and former White House and Senate counsel to Vice President Biden, Cynthia C. Hogan.

 

“Selecting a vice presidential candidate is one of the most important decisions in a presidential campaign and no one knows this more than Joe Biden,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, Campaign Manager, Biden for President. “These four co-chairs reflect the strength and diversity of our party, and will provide tremendous insight and expertise to what will be a rigorous selection and vetting process. We are grateful for their service to the campaign and for their leadership.”

Vice President Biden announced on March 15, 2020 that he would choose a woman to be his running mate. The Co-Chairs of his selection process will conduct conversations across the party as well as work with a network of vetting teams led by former White House Counsel Bob Bauer, campaign General Counsel Dana Remus, and former Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco, to provide Vice President Biden with the background and information he needs to make his decision.

 

Additional biographic information on the co-chairs is provided below:

 

Former United States Senator Chris Dodd has been a longtime friend and colleague of Vice President Biden for almost forty years. Senator Dodd has earned a reputation as a leading voice on domestic and international issues during his service in the U.S. Congress. He chaired the Senate Banking Committee, where he co-authored the landmark Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Along with Vice President Biden, Dodd helped shepherd the historic Affordable Care Act through the HELP Committee as interim chair and to final passage. Senator Dodd has a long history of foreign affairs experience serving with then-Senator Biden on the Foreign Relations Committee for three decades. Senator Dodd served for almost thirty years on the Senate Children and Families committee. He considers his work on behalf of our nation’s children, including such legislation as the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, to be some of the most satisfying and rewarding of his Senate career. Senator Dodd is no stranger to the importance of the upcoming election, having both served as the General Chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the reelection of Bill Clinton, and having coauthored landmark election reform legislation after the controversial 2000 election. After retiring from the Senate, Dodd served as the Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association and is currently senior counsel at the law firm of Arnold & Porter.

 

U.S. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester made history in 2016 becoming the first African American and first woman member of Congress to be elected from Delaware, and serves as a National Co-Chair of Biden for President. She serves as an Assistant Whip for House Leadership and sits on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. She is a leading voice in Congress on health care, economic, and future of work-related issues. As Delaware’s former Secretary of Labor, State Personnel Director, and former CEO of the Wilmington Metropolitan Urban League, Lisa leverages her professional experience to advocate for legislation that boosts start-up business growth, removes barriers for citizens re-entering society, and promotes a cleaner and healthier environment for all communities, regardless of zip code. She is also the founder of the bipartisan Congressional Future of Work Caucus. Born in Philadelphia but with deep roots in the First State, Lisa grew up in Wilmington and graduated from Padua Academy. She holds a degree in International Relations from Fairleigh Dickinson University and put herself through graduate school as a working mom – earning a master’s degree in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the University of Delaware.

 

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is the 42nd Mayor of Los Angeles and is National Campaign Co-Chair of Biden for President. He is also President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, a DNC member and past Chair of Democratic Municipal Officials. Mayor Garcetti is the co-founder and Chair of Climate Mayors, which comprises 438 U.S. Mayors committed to the principles of the Paris Agreement, and is Chair of C40, a global network of 95 megacities representing 1/12 of the world's population whose leaders are committed to addressing climate change. He is Chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Infrastructure Task Force and founder and co-chair of its Latino Alliance. He is a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO). As co-founder and Advisory Council Chair of Accelerator for America, he helped lead the creation of economic development tools now utilized by more than 60 cities nationwide and helped local communities generate $22 billion in infrastructure funding. He is now helping lead the Accelerator's work to assist cities nationwide in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. Mayor Garcetti's government service began on the L.A. City Council, where he spent four terms as Council President before being elected Mayor in 2013 and winning re-election in 2017 by the widest margin in Los Angeles history. He served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve and taught at the University of Southern California and Occidental College. He earned a B.A. and M.A. from Columbia University, and studied as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, and later at the London School of Economics.

 

Cynthia C. Hogan is a long-time aide and advisor to Vice President Biden. From 2009 to 2013, Cynthia served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Counsel to the Vice President of the United States of America. In that capacity, she advised on a broad range of domestic and foreign policy issues before the Obama Administration. She also led the Administration’s effort to confirm Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court. Cynthia previously served as the Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary where she worked with then-Senator Biden to enact the landmark Violence Against Women Act. Before that, she practiced law at the Washington, D.C. firm Williams & Connolly. She graduated from Oberlin College and received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, where she served as an editor of The Virginia Law Review. After her government service, Cynthia served in senior policy roles at Apple and the National Football League, where she also helped shape the league’s domestic violence prevention initiatives.