Biden Campaign Seeks DEI Director

The campaign for President Joe Biden posted an advertisement on Thursday for a DEI director in an effort to create and execute "a comprehensive strategy to attract and support diverse talent to further the campaign’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion."

The director’s key responsibilities include owning the DEI strategy and DEI initiatives, reporting on the campaign’s diversity efforts, forging relationships with external DEI partners, and supporting existing diverse campaign staff.

The listing states that extensive experience in the DEI space is required and offers a $95,000 - $120,000 a year salary. The Biden campaign also requires that all employees be "up to date" on COVID-19 vaccinations.

While diversity, equity, and inclusion roles have been a source of national controversy of late, the Biden campaign is doubling down on the concept in hopes of "upskilling and further educating campaign staff around DEI." Last week, Axios reported that DEI phraseology was used in corporate America’s quarterly earnings calls more than 300 times in 2021, yet dropped to 74 in 2024.

Earlier this month, the University of Texas at Austin eliminated close to 60 DEI staffers to comply with the state law SB 17 that bans public college and universities from "promoting differential treatment" based on race, sex, or ethnicity. In January, Florida passed a similar bill prohibiting DEI in the Florida college system.

The Biden campaign DEI director will also create workshops, provide coaching to leaders, managers, and employees on DEI best practices.

The posting follows last week’s attempt by House Democrats to codify DEI programs at the federal level. The Federal Government Equity Improvement Act seeks to "center racial equity and justice in every administrative and policy decision across federal agencies," according to Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass.

• Most US Colleges Require DEI Courses to Graduate
• House Dems Introduce Bills to Codify DEI