President Joe Biden in the White House Cabinet Room with, from left to right, U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Philip Goldberg, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Secretary of State Antony Blinkin and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on March 10, 2022 Credit – Doug Mills Pool via Getty Images
This article is part of The DC Brief, TIME’s political newsletter. To register here to receive stories like this in your inbox.
Among Democrats in Washington, the biggest fuss about this election year’s competition isn’t for the White House, though it is certainly the most expensive. No, the most blatant campaign – almost everything done just offstage and in a shouted whisper – is for the president to make top appearances Joe Biden prevail in his re-election bid.
Lawmakers looking for a final bump in the opening of their obituary are signaling their eagerness to replace their old Senate friend by accepting a high-profile role in Biden’s second term. The stars of the current administration are keeping tabs in case a promotion becomes available, and members of Congress on good terms with the White House are positioning themselves if the right position opens up. And a handful of allies with deep pockets on the outside are gauging the willingness of certain CEOs to accept massive pay cuts in exchange for a senior administrative position or an overseas post; donors ensure their names are included in fundraising rounds.
It is, to put it bluntly, as inappropriate as expected. And given former President Donald Trump’s continued but limited advantages over Biden in head-to-head and swing-state polls, it could also be a cosplay fantasy.
First, take a moment to appreciate the remarkable stability of the Biden administration’s senior ranks: His Cabinet has seen the lowest turnover since George W. Bush — just two turnovers in four years — and the White House’s “A-Team” House has been as static as it has been since 2012. While the continued churn of the Trump era should never be a normal barometer for the administration — fourteen Cabinet members are gone and 92% turnover for his senior team at this point in Trump’s first term — it does provide a useful backdrop to seeing how Biden has restored some semblance of normalcy to at least his powerful but small corner of Washington. (Great credit to the Brookings Institute for quantifying the chaos and tranquility in the cabinet.)
But that lag in change could herald a rush of revision if Biden prevails in November. For most of these jobs that involve managing the West Wing or helping run Cabinet agencies, it’s an all-consuming job that pays a fraction of what many did before — and in most cases will do again — in the private sector . CIA Director William Burns, for example, traded his half-million dollar salary at the Carnegie Endowment for a gig that paid less than half that. For White House staffers who earn much less, the lure of corporate life can be hard to resist unless you arrive in the West Wing without worrying about money.
The durability of Biden’s inner circle says as much about his team as it does about him. Despite his reputation as a father figure, Biden can be something of an insular soul and a demanding boss, especially to new faces. He knows who he trusts and those who reach that level of kinship never really leave. That’s why Susan Rice, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, took a job as his top domestic policy adviser, and former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez now serves as a utility infielder in the White House, and former Secretary of State Business John Kerry returned to government as floating envoy on climate change. Others, like former Senator Bill Nelson heads NASA, former Delaware Governor Jack Markell is Washington’s Man in Rome, and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is Biden’s “Japan Hand.”
But the fame is also why so many people present on Inauguration Day showed impressive tenacity. Those who may have initially been seen as merely useful additions to Team Joe have proven their worth. Biden, for example, has grown fond and impressed with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, and it’s not impossible to see the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana moving up into a second-term Cabinet, perhaps heading to a UN gig or working with veterans . Likewise, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s star is shining as brightly as ever, suggesting the former Rhode Island governor could also get a nice second-term seat. And never, ever count out Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor whose charm and incentives are as sharp as anyone with a reserved seat in the Cabinet room. (For no one, Biden’s instinctive tilt toward those who have previously sought elected office is lost.)
Other hardliners could get a serious look, including U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield — who could see herself as the second career Foreign Service officer in history to rise to secretary of state if Antony Blinken pursues other goals — and the current budget director Shalanda Young, who has commanded respect from leaders of both parties.
From the outside, the push takes a slightly less aggressive approach. But it’s not lost on anyone that the Congressional delegation to this week’s D-Day anniversary in Europe includes some heavyweights who have been less than subtle in their belief that they could be a welcome addition to Biden’s administration job. And during the flight across the pond this week, more than a few aides — and some of their bosses — mused about who might fill a new role if Biden prevails.
Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island is chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and could be a top candidate to lead the Pentagon. (And few doubt that a change at the Defense Department won’t be one of the first things in a second Biden term.) Reed’s office says the 74-year-old Democrat and former 82nd Airborne Division officer only watching several of his fellow veterans celebrate the 80th anniversary of the capture of Normandy by jumping out of planes over France.
From the sidelines, Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who served in the Foreign Relations Department for more than a decade, has also attracted Biden’s attention as a potential replacement for Blinken. Senator Chris Coons sits on both the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees that Biden previously led, casting himself as not only Biden’s closest friend in the Senate but also as an intellectual representative who could be well suited to both the state and the judicial power. (His Delaware roots don’t hurt either.) And Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, is as attractive a candidate as any to help with portfolios as varied as active military affairs, veterans programs or disability advocacy. Biden’s team often describes her as their all-star recruit if they could get her.
Put in purely crude terms, it’s hard to find anyone who wears or has worn a Senate pin who doesn’t harbor an infatuation with stepping off Capitol Hill for a gig with far greater autonomy and a degree of greater influence . For committee chairs, their hearing room is their harbor, their gavel is a sword; for everyone else, Congress can be a drag. The mythology surrounding even the most routine Cabinet appearances is easy to romanticize when the profit margins reach their fifth hour of pointless amendments.
And from the expensive seats at invited fundraisers and envy receptions, the cash-rich couple also keep an eye on the unofficial For Hire sticker boards. It’s no secret that dollars get you the most coveted locations as diplomats. (They are known as ambassadors for a reason.) Scott Miller, an activist who, along with husband Tim Gill, has funded pro-LGBTQ causes for decades, scored the top diplomatic post in Switzerland. Denise Bauer, one of the Democratic Party’s most efficient fundraisers, secured the ambassador gig to Belgium during Barack Obama’s term and now heads the embassy in France. And businessmen like Meg Whitman, former CEO of Hewlett Packard, who ran for governor of California as a Republican and counts Mitt Romney among her best friends, are in charge of the embassy in Kenya.
Then there is Washington and its boundless ambitions. A seemingly endless parade of aides and fundraisers — especially in election years — often asks whether reporters had heard their boss was up for an appearance. Well, once the seed is planted, the goal is half achieved. That’s exactly why a lot of Capitol Hill read this to the end to see if their boss got a positive mention.
Understand what’s important in Washington. Sign up for the DC Brief newsletter.
More from TIME
Write to Philip Elliott at philip.elliott@time.com.
