Biden: Administration Will ‘Look Like America’ — What About His Transition Team?

More than half the members of President-elect Joe Biden's transition team are women and nearly half are people of color, according to data from the team.

It's another sign of the commitment to racial and gender diversity among the incoming administration after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris became the first woman, first Black person and first Asian-American person to be elected to the office.

As President Donald Trump's administration is slow-walking the transfer of power amid the president's unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, the president-elect's team has moved forward with the transition process. The Biden-Harris transition team last week named a 13-member coronavirus advisory board, a White House chief of staff and agency review teams.

The Associated Press currently projects Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election with 290 Electoral College votes and 50.9% of the popular vote to Trump's 232 Electoral College votes and 47.3% of the popular vote. The AP has not yet called Georgia.

Biden's transition team on Monday sent data to McClatchy News detailing the diversity of the incoming president's advisers and staff.

Women make up 52% of the transition team overall and 53% of its senior staff, with nonwhite people making up 46% percent of overall staff and 41% of senior staff, the data show.

Five members of the coronavirus advisory board are women and nine are people of color.

Roughly 40% of the 500 members of the transition's agency review teams -- which are tasked with understanding how each agency operates -- represent "communities historically underrepresented in the federal government," including people of color, LGBTQ individuals and people with disabilities, officials say.

Prominent roles for Black policy makers

Along with the historic nature of Harris as the vice president-elect, the agency review teams under President-elect Biden are among the most diverse in history, The Associated Press reports, with more than a quarter of them led by Black men and women.

Charmion Kinder, who served as White House press aide to first lady Michelle Obama and as a public affairs appointee at the departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development, will head the transition efforts at the U.S. Department of Commerce, according to the AP.

The transition efforts at the Environmental Protection Agency will be led by Patrice Simms, an environmental attorney who served as a deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's environment and natural resources division under former President Barack Obama, the AP reports.

Niambi Carter, a political science professor at Howard University, told the AP that the Biden team "owes a debt to Black folks."

"Black people helped them survive the primary and then in this election cycle they showed up in key states like Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that really pulled Joe Biden over the line," Carter said, according to the AP. "So absolutely, I think this is an attempt by not just Biden but also the Democratic Party to keep Black people in the fold."

Diversity includes members of LGBTQ, Latino communities

Biden has also named several members of the LGBTQ community to his transition team, The Advocate reports.

Among them is Shawn Skelly, a transgender U.S. Navy veteran whom Biden appointed to the transition team at the U.S. Department of Defense, per the outlet. Skelly served in multiple roles in the Obama administration starting in 2013 and was the first openly transgender person to be appointed to a position by a U.S. president.

Biden added Pete Buttigieg -- the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and the first openly gay major presidential candidate -- to his transition team in early September, according to Axios. Buttigieg's supporters have also been advocating for him to serve in a foreign policy role in Biden's administration, Politico reports.

Juan Sepulveda -- a professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, who was a former state director for Obama's 2008 campaign and senior advisor for Hispanic affairs at the Democratic National Committee during his 2012 campaign -- will work on the transition team's arts and humanities group, KSAT reports.

Noel Poyo, also from San Antonio and executive director of the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders, will work on the Housing and Urban Development team.

'Unrelenting commitment to diversity'

The president-elect, expected to announce cabinet members this month, has pledged that his administration will reflect the country's diversity.

"My administration's going to look like America, not just my staff, the administration from the vice president straight down through cabinet members to major players within the White House, and the court," Biden said during a June town hall, according to CNN. "It's going to be a reflection of who we are as a nation."

During her victory speech in Delaware last Saturday, Harris paid tribute to Black women, who she called the "backbone of our democracy."

"Tonight I reflect on their struggle, their determination and the strength of their vision to see what can be unburdened by what has been," Harris said.

Ted Kaufman, co-chairperson of the Biden-Harris transition, said in release that an "unrelenting commitment to diversity" is "at the core" of the transition team's work.

"As we continue working full-speed ahead to inauguration, our diverse group of leaders and staff are reflective of America -- upholding President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris' belief that through diverse voices we can develop and implement a policy vision to tackle our nation's toughest challenges," Kaufman said.

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