Julie Chávez Rodriguez (born April 7, 1978) is an American political consultant and was the campaign manager for Vice President

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 49th vice president of the United States from 2021 to 2025 under President Joe Biden. She is the first female, first African American, and ...

's 2024 presidential campaign, transitioning to that role from President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

's 2024 re-election campaign. From 2008 to 2016, Chávez Rodriguez served in the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

, initially working for the

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natura ...

and later in the White House Office of Public Engagement. In 2016, She was appointed state director for Senator

and from 2017 to 2019 served on her 2020 presidential campaign. In 2020, Biden, the eventual Democratic presidential nominee, hired Chávez Rodriguez as senior advisor for Latino outreach in his

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

. In 2021, Chávez Rodriguez was appointed to be the director of Biden's

White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs The White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (IGA) is a unit of the White House Office, within the Executive Office of the President of the United States, Executive Office of the President. It serves as the primary liaison between the White ...

. In 2022 she was appointed

senior advisor to the president Senior Advisor to the President is a title used by high-ranking political advisors to the president of the United States. Senior advisors to the president do not have formal government decision making authority, but they can have significant infl ...

, and, in 2023, as his campaign manager.

Early life and education

Rodriguez was born in

Delano, California Delano ( ) is a city in Kern County, California, United States. Delano is located about north-northwest of Bakersfield, California, Bakersfield at an elevation of . The population was 51,428 in 2020, down from 53,041 in 2010. It is Kern Count ...

. She was raised in Tehachapi in a family of well-known labor activists affiliated with the

United Farm Workers of America The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the National Farm Workers Associatio ...

organization. She is the daughter of Linda Chávez Rodriguez and Arturo Rodriguez, and the granddaughter of American labor activist, Helen Fabela Chávez, and American labor leader,

César Chávez Cesario Estrada Chavez (; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta and lesser known Gilbert Padilla, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), ...

. Her parents were full time volunteers for the UFWA. Rodriguez would often attend labor rallies with her parents and grandparents and assist them in UFWA community outreach activities. Rodriguez attended Tehachapi High School, and later attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, where she received a bachelor's degree in

Latin American Studies Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, histor ...

in 2000. During her summer breaks, Rodriguez worked at the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...

. She also spent summers volunteering with the UFWA, organizing strawberry pickers in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and ...

Career

From 2001 to 2008, Rodriguez worked as a program director at the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

Obama administration

Rodriguez worked as a full-time volunteer for

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's 2008 presidential campaign in Colorado. In 2009, Rodriguez was hired by the

, initially working as Director of Youth Employment and later as Deputy Press Secretary to former

Ken Salazar Kenneth Lee Salazar (born March 2, 1955) is an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat who served as United States ambassador to Mexico from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as the 50th United States Secretary of the Interior in the administ ...

. From 2011 to 2017, Rodriguez served in the

in its White House Office of Public Engagement as deputy director of public engagement and later served as Special Assistant to the President. Her work as deputy director initially involved immigration and Latino outreach and evolved into the management of the White House's outreach program to Latino,

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

, veteran,

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

and

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

, youth, education and progressive communities.

Kamala Harris posts

On December 11, 2016, Rodriguez was appointed by California Senator

to serve as her state director. In 2017, Rodriguez was hired by Harris's 2020 presidential campaign and served on it until Harris withdrew her candidacy in late 2019. Rodriguez initially served as co-national political director and later took on the role of the campaign's traveling chief of staff.

Biden administration

In 2020, Rodriquez was hired by Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign as senior advisor to oversee Latino outreach. She was the highest-ranking Latina who worked for the campaign. On January 20, 2021, Rodriguez began her appointment as director of the

. On June 15, 2022, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Biden promoted her to be a

, a senior staff position. On April 25, 2023, it was announced that Rodriguez would serve as Campaign Manager of Biden's 2024 presidential campaign, with

Quentin Fulks Quentin Fulks is an American campaign manager and political strategist who is a fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics. He was the principal deputy campaign manager of the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign and reportedly led the campai ...

as Principal Deputy Campaign Manager. This is the first time a Latina and African American man were selected to run the campaign of an incumbent president. On May 16, 2023, she was replaced as director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs by Tom Perez.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Julie Chavez 1978 births Living people Activists for Hispanic and Latino American civil rights AFL-CIO people American campaign managers American civil rights activists American politicians of Mexican descent American trade unionists of Mexican descent American women trade unionists Biden administration personnel California Democrats Cesar Chavez Joe Biden 2024 presidential campaign Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign Obama administration personnel People associated with the 2024 United States presidential election People from Kern County, California Trade unionists from California United Farm Workers people United States Department of the Interior officials University of California, Berkeley alumni