Anita Dunn, a longtime adviser to Joe Biden, is leaving the White House to take on a top consulting role with a major Democratic super PAC, marking the first departure from within the president’s inner circle since he announced he would not be seeking re-election.
Dunn will serve as senior adviser to Future Forward, an independent group that recently announced a $50 million advertising campaign to goose Harris’ numbers in six key battleground states. She will also advise Future Forward USA Action, its partner organization.
“I am grateful to President Biden and Vice President Harris for their leadership and giving me the opportunity to be part of what they have accomplished for the American people,” Dunn said in a statement, calling it “an honor and privilege” to have served in Biden’s administration.
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In his own statement, Biden praised Dunn as a “tough and tested” member of his team.
“I deeply value her counsel and friendship and I will continue to rely on her partnership and insights as we finish the job over the next six months,” he said.
The Washington Post first reported her exit on Tuesday.
Dunn, 66, advised Biden in the 2020 race against Donald Trump. She worked in his White House in 2021 before departing briefly and returning the following year, overseeing communications. Her husband, Bob Baeur, is Biden’s personal attorney, according to Politico.
She previously served as acting White House Communications Director under the Obama administration, and has advised on at least five other Democratic presidential campaigns over the past four decades.
Her decamping is not entirely unexpected, particularly in the wake of Biden’s disastrous debate performance late last month. Despite being one of his top aides, Dunn was “left in the dark until minutes before” Biden publicly announced he would end his presidential campaign last Sunday, CNN reported at the time. Both Dunn and Bauer were part of Biden’s debate prep team.
In a staffer call minutes after Biden’s letter was posted to social media, Dunn said that the president’s team needed to “focus on defending and protecting Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden had just endorsed,” a person on the call told Politico.
In a statement on Tuesday, Harris’ White House chief of staff, Lorraine Voles, hailed Dunn as someone who “gives her all every day, and is a valued colleague to me and so many others on these 18 acres.”
