White House aide shifts to Biden campaign as part of paid media team

A longtime aide in President Biden’s White House has left the administration to join the president’s reelection campaign as a senior member of its paid media team.

Jing Qu previously served as the chief of staff to Biden senior adviser Mike Donilon and for the White House speechwriting office. In her new role, which is being first reported by The Hill, Qu will work with the Biden campaign as it ramps up its paid media efforts ahead of November’s election.

“Jing is an extraordinary talent. She’s a first-rate writer and strategic thinker. She’s creative and a tenacious, hard worker who sees every project through to the end. But most of all — she’s a person of great character, integrity and generosity of spirit,” Donilon, who recently joined the campaign as chief strategist, said in a statement to The Hill.

In her White House role, Qu worked on policy polling and messaging strategy for the president, including around major speeches like the State of the Union, a Biden official said. 

She wrote remarks for President Biden for the first Lunar New Year celebration at the White House, as well as when Biden honored the victims of the Monterey Park mass shooting during a March 2023 visit to the area. Qu was elevated to a special assistant to the president last August.

“Jing is a rare gem of a person — brilliant, invaluable. Equal parts analytical and creative, she brings to bear her experience across politics, tech, and consumer media to help reflect the lived experiences of all Americans. She’s a great leader and colleague and she’ll do incredible work on the campaign,” Vinay Reddy, Biden’s director of speechwriting, said in a statement.

She previously worked for the paid media team during Biden’s 2020 campaign, where she was part of the organization’s $58 million voter mobilization program.

The campaign announced earlier Tuesday it had raised more than $42 million in January, giving itself roughly $130 million in cash on hand with roughly nine months until Election Day.

The campaign has already rolled out major ad campaigns targeting minority voters in key battleground states highlighting Biden’s accomplishments and efforts to lower costs for families during his first term, as well as ads warning that former President Trump poses a severe threat to democracy.

The Biden campaign has been steadily staffing up in anticipation of a likely rematch with Trump in November. 

Donilon joined the campaign in January, along with Jen O’Malley Dillon, a senior White House aide who ran Biden’s 2020 campaign. O’Malley Dillon will serve as campaign chair for Biden’s 2024 bid, with Julie Chavez Rodriguez remaining on as campaign manager. Mitch Landrieu, who served as the White House’s infrastructure czar, has joined the campaign as a national co-chair.