The Biden transition office announcing the news, said Klain is one of Biden’s most trusted campaign advisers and was long seen as the most likely pick for the job.
Klain previously served as chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore during the Clinton administration and Biden during his tenure as President Barack Obama’s vice president.
“Ron has been invaluable to me over the many years that we have worked together, including as we rescued the American economy from one of the worst downturns in our history in 2009 and later overcame a daunting public health emergency in 2014,” Biden said in a statement.
“His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again.”
Klain praised Biden in his own statement, calling his new role “the honor of a lifetime.”
“I look forward to helping him and the Vice President-elect assemble a talented and diverse team to work in the White House, as we tackle their ambitious agenda for change, and seek to heal the divides in our country.”
Klain also tweeted, “I’ve seen so many kind wishes tonight on this website. Thank you – and I’m sorry I can’t reply to each of you. I’m honored by the President-elect’s confidence and will give my all to lead a talented and diverse team in a Biden-Harris WH.”
Klain graduated from Harvard Law School in 1987 and was the editor of the Harvard Law Review. He would later serve as a law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Byron R. White. Klain was appointed by then-Sen. Biden to serve as chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1989 to 1992.
