Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from producer Raymond Rapada Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren Election years can be grueling — especially for a White House whose boss is on the ballot. Only so much can be done to alleviate the inherent stress that next year will bring. But one step that some White House staffers are taking to minimize uncertainty is to decide now whether they can commit to staying in their jobs through November 2024. And there’s a widespread understanding across campus that if they can’t stick it out through the election, they need to hand in their resignation letters soon. “Having a consistent team is really important,” said a White House staffer. “People are having internal conversations about what they want. And if they don’t have another year in them, then most people know to leave soon.” Staffers who spoke with West Wing Playbook called it a natural time in any administration for people to move on. Many viewed it as a courtesy to their colleagues to be upfront about whether they will be around through President JOE BIDEN’s reelection. It can take time to fill vacancies and get people up-to-speed on the job. It can be hard to recruit people to a White House with uncertainty if the job will last past January 2025. And no one wants to deal with newcomers figuring out the rhythms of the White House just months out from an election, when there’s little room for error. Optics are another concern. Some staffers said that while it’s critical to maintain a good workflow, they also want to avoid any unfavorable headlines about staff departures that could undermine the president during an election year. Some bosses have been more direct than others about wanting to have their 2024 team locked in place soon. In the vice president’s office, for example, some staff have explicitly been asked to either leave now or plan to stay through next fall, according to one person familiar with the conversations. Still, staffers noted that there hasn’t been the same senior-level push from the West Wing as earlier this summer when chief of staff JEFF ZIENTS asked Cabinet members to decide if they wanted to leave so the White House could avoid confirmation battles during an election year. Biden's Cabinet has remained remarkably stable, especially compared to previous administrations. But turnover has been much higher among senior-level staffers, with director of legislative affairs LOUISA TERRELL and CELESTE DRAKE, Biden’s top labor adviser, announcing their departures most recently. As people begin to wind down their summer and return from vacation, staffers said they anticipate more departure announcements in the coming weeks. Some political appointees at federal agencies said they felt like they had more time to make their exits than White House staffers because there’s less attention paid to the inner-workings of their offices and their departments have more resources than the West Wing to fill in staffing gaps. But in general, officials said they felt like they needed to make a commitment by January. “Life happens and plans can change,” said one agency official. “But you do feel a sense of obligation to the people around you not to ditch.” “After Nov. 5, all bets are off,” the person joked. MESSAGE US — Are you GAUTAM RAGHAVAN, director of the Office of Presidential Personnel? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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