Office Politics

By Alex Thompson and Max Tani 

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms started her job at the White House this week, replacing Cedric Richmond as the head of the Office of Public Engagement.

But Lance Bottoms didn’t get Richmond’s former West Wing office, surprising some White House staffers.

Instead, she started work inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB), which is on the White House complex but a short jaunt across the street. Senior adviser ANITA DUNN, who recently returned to the White House, moved into Richmond’s office with her team instead.

“Mayor Bottoms is in the process of moving to D.C. full time and will shortly move to an office in the West Wing,” a White House official told West Wing Playbook. Dunn also temporarily worked in the EEOB when she started last month and used the same office Lance Bottoms is working from now, a person familiar with the matter said. Richmond, who left to join the Democratic National Committee, declined to comment through a committee spokesperson.

Still, some White House officials felt that starting in the EEOB was insulting to Lance Bottoms, an early endorser of JOE BIDEN’s campaign in 2019. She was initially reluctant to take the job, and originally turned it down, a person familiar with the matter said. The White House then considered former Transportation Secretary ANTHONY FOXX before Lance Bottoms ultimately accepted the job.

Another person familiar with the dynamic said that Lance Bottoms was approached “a number of times since the transition and the White House consistently tried to get her to come because she’s a remarkable talent. This has been a nearly two-year recruitment effort.”

Lance Bottoms is now one of the few Black senior White House officials. Biden’s Cabinet is the most diverse in history, but his inner circle is largely white, which has caused some internal tensions.

The game of office musical chairs and the gossip around it suggests the White House is subject to the same type of internal politics as most white-collar workplaces. With limited real estate in the West Wing, office size and proximity to the Oval Office indicate influence and are comparable to corner offices and executive suites.

To that point, Dunn’s move to Richmond’s office signals her further ascension in Biden’s orbit.

In her initial temporary role during the first seven months of 2021, Dunn worked from the communications office known as “upper press” next to communications director KATE BEDINGFIELD and former press secretary JEN PSAKI (Bedingfield later moved into Dunn’s old office). But in Richmond’s former office, it’s clear that her portfolio is much wider ranging now.

As the same White House source put it, Dunn’s “current office is not designated for a certain role or team.”