Joe Biden's campaign released diversity statistics for its staff Saturday, revealing that 35 percent of its full-time members are people of color.
The campaign also said 36 percent of its senior staff are people of color, 53 percent of its full staff are female and 58 percent of its senior staff are female. Five percent of staff chose not to specify their race or ethnicity.
The Biden campaign refused to disclose the diversity of its staff for months even after the former vice president claimed in December that he had “the most diverse staff of anybody running” in the Democratic primary. When POLITICO asked in December and again in May for diversity statistics the campaign refused to disclose them.
Those who are senior staff include senior advisers, deputy campaign managers, senior consultants and department heads.
The campaign said it is still hiring and will add additional leaders across the campaign.
Biden was pressed by Amna Nawaz, a correspondent for “PBS NewsHour” during a presidential town hall Saturday on the diversity of his campaign. Biden said he would release the statistics after the town hall, which was hosted by Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote.
“My administration is 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,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s going to be a reflection of who we are as a nation.”
Biden was asked specifically about Asian and Pacific Islander leaders on his staff. The campaign disclosed later that Asian and Pacific Islander senior staffers include its chief financial officer, chief operating officer, national voter protection director, digital chief of staff, director of digital partnerships, and surrogates director.
The campaign did not release its diversity statistics broken down by race or ethnicity. The campaign partnered with the company Inclusv — which works to ensure people of color are hired at all levels of politics — this week.
“Inclusv is partnering with the Biden campaign to help them connect with more talent of color interested in joining their team," Alida Garcia, founder of Inclusv, said in a text to POLITICO. "We will be doing outreach webinars about how to get a job on the campaign, amplifying open roles to our membership, and sourcing resumes for their team.”
Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016 landed at roughly 38 percent people of color, according to Garcia
“While the Biden campaign is behind Clinton’s numbers there is a lot of opportunity to surpass that as they continue to staff up in the battleground states," said Garcia.
President Donald Trump's campaign also released its diversity statistics on Saturday. Fifty-two percent of full-time staff are female, 56 percent of senior staff are female and 25 percent of senior staff are people of color. The percentage of full-time staff that are people of color is not available, the campaign said.
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