Arkansan takes job on Biden campaign
WASHINGTON — An Arkansan is joining President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign as a member of its communications team.
The Biden campaign on Thursday announced Adrienne Elrod as a campaign senior adviser and spokesperson.
Elrod, a Siloam Springs native, played a role in Biden’s successful White House bid four years ago overseeing the campaign’s surrogates program, which involved getting celebrities and other individuals to stump on then-candidate Biden’s behalf.
Elrod’s political resume includes positions in the Clinton administration within the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and Department of Housing and Urban Development, and later roles under multiple members in the U.S. House of Representatives, including Arkansas Democrat Mike Ross.
During Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, Elrod served as a senior communications aide. In the 2016 election cycle, Elrod was Hillary for America’s director of strategic communications and surrogates.
Other experiences include time as the Democratic Party of Arkansas’ communications director and regional press secretary of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
“We’re excited to have Adrienne join our talented and dedicated team in Wilmington,” Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in a statement. “Adrienne has played critical roles in some of the most consequential elections in history, and will be a dynamic and effective messenger for the President and Vice President on the issues that will define this election.”
As part of Tyler’s team, Elrod will serve as the campaign’s spokesperson across multiple platforms, including television and non-traditional media outlets. The Biden campaign expects Elrod will have a presence on the campaign trail in the months to come.
Jen Palmieri, who served as communications director for Clinton’s 2016 campaign, praised Elrod as “battle-tested, hardworking and one of the most talented communicators of our time.”
“There’s no one you want more on your team than Adrienne,” Palmieri said. “With her expertise, the President continues to build a team that knows the stakes of this election, and will do the work needed to win this November.”
A Biden campaign official declined a request by the Democrat-Gazette on Thursday asking if Elrod was available to comment on her new role.
Since the end of the 2020 election, Elrod has served as president of the Elrod Strategies communications firm. She also recently worked in the U.S. Department of Commerce as director of external and government affairs for the CHIPS program office, which focuses on communications involving semiconductor investments and production stemming from the CHIPS and Science Act.