Buttigieg, former officials added to Biden’s transition team

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden added several former Obama administration officials as well as former South Bend, Ind. mayor and presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg to his transition team. 

According to multiple media outlets, former National Security advisor Susan Rice and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates are joining the transition team. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) and Jeff Zients, former President Obama’s National Economic Council director, will also reportedly join the transition team as co-chairs. 

Biden campaign adviser Anita Dunn, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) and former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are also reportedly joining the transition team. Other transition members include Tony Allen, president of Delaware State University, and Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers.

“We are preparing for this transition amid the backdrop of a global health crisis and struggling economy,” former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who is leading the transition team, told Reuters. “This is a transition like no other, and the team being assembled will help Joe Biden meet the urgent challenges facing our country on day one.”

Over the summer Biden announced some members of the transition team, including Yohannes Abraham, who held several senior roles in the Obama administration, and Avril Haines, the former deputy director of the CIA.

Gautam Raghavan, currently chief of staff to Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the primary, is also on the transition team. Biden is also hiring Julie Siegel, who served as a top legal adviser to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

The Biden campaign and transition team did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Hill.