With help from Allie Bice and Daniel Payne Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. Did someone forward this to you? Subscribe here! Have a tip? Email us at transitiontips@politico.com. White House press secretary JEN PSAKI doesn’t plan to leave her post for at least another eight months, but the internal jockeying to succeed her behind the White House briefing room podium has already begun, and Biden administration officials are starting to pick sides. Psaki recently told DAVID AXELROD that she thinks someone else will have the job in about a year. So when The Washington Post published a long profile this past weekend about SYMONE SANDERS and her fiancé SHAWN TOWNSEND that included Townsend and another close friend talking about Sanders’ disappointment at not being chosen as press secretary, it caused a stir throughout the West Wing. “Whether deliberate or not, it appeared to be an attempt to position her as Jen’s successor,” said a source with knowledge of the situation inside the White House. Reached by phone and asked if she’s interested in the position or jockeying for it, Sanders told West Wing Playbook, “I am not. I’m very happy in the office of the vice president and it’s keeping me very, very busy.” The article and the internal reaction to it also shed some light on the behind-the-scenes positioning to succeed Psaki. As the principal deputy press secretary, KARINE JEAN-PIERRE is seen internally and externally as next in line. That’s one reason some White House and administration aides have been flagging Jean-Pierre’s slip-ups to us over the first few months, like when she declared that the White House supported Ukraine’s admittance into NATO. (The transcript later included a strike-through of that part of her answer). Some of those same aides were also critical of Jean-Pierre’s TV hits during the campaign when she transitioned from being a pundit to a spokesperson for Biden. Jean-Pierre did not respond to questions. In a statement, Psaki called Jean-Pierre an “invaluable partner” and said that she would be doing her first briefing from the podium “in the coming weeks.” She added: “That’s what we are focused on in the press office — not overeager background sniping. But as I have told the team, they are not getting rid of me for a long while.” Two sources close to the process were more pointed. As one put it: “In Joe Biden’s White House, the surest way not to be elevated is to openly campaign.” The quiet campaigning is expected to ramp up through the end of the year as Psaki prepares to head for the door. Besides Jean-Pierre and Sanders, White House officials and Democrats connected to the White House say that potential successors include White House communications director KATE BEDINGFIELD (through a White House spokesperson, did not immediately respond), State Department spokesperson NED PRICE (declined to comment), JILL BIDEN’s communications director ELIZABETH ALEXANDER (did not respond), or even potentially a reporter. Biden chose JAY CARNEY, then Time magazine’s Washington bureau chief, as his first communications director during the Obama administration; Obama later promoted him to White House press secretary. During the fall, some Biden officials tossed around ABBY PHILLIP’s name, according to someone familiar with the discussions. “If this is true, it’s the first I am hearing about it,” the CNN star told West Wing Playbook in an email. “I’ve never been contacted about anything like this nor would I ever consider it.” The White House did not comment. Price has the advantage of experience behind the State Department podium, facing tough reporters, some of whom have encyclopedic knowledge of world affairs. It also happens to be the job Psaki held before she became White House communications director under Obama. Alexander’s edge is her relationship with the Bidens — she was JOE BIDEN’s press secretary in the Senate and in the vice president’s office. Bedingfield also has a long history with Biden, having joined his office in 2015 and then being on the 2020 campaign from the start. But Democrats also expect there will be a lot of pressure within the party to select the first woman of color for the job. Former South Carolina state Rep. BAKARI SELLERS, who told the Post about Sanders’ disappointment after not getting the position, heaped praise on Psaki in an interview. “She's just done a phenomenal job,” he said. “She's been one of the best secretaries we've had in recent history.” As for who comes next, Sellers, who first backed KAMALA HARRIS in the primary before backing Biden, said that “Karine and Symone both should get an opportunity and look, but this is a tough job and I think that Jen's voice should probably weigh as one of the loudest in the room.” PSA — We’re going to be experimenting with some new items and sections. Tell us what you like and what you hate. Do you work in the Biden administration? Are you in touch with the White House? Are you ADRIAN SAENZ? We want to hear from you — and we’ll keep you anonymous: transitiontips@politico.com. Or if you want to stay really anonymous send us a tip through SecureDrop, Signal, Telegram, or Whatsapp here. You can also reach Alex and Theo individually. Let’s chat off the record with quote approval, Jen! | 
