Biden’s staff set for shake-up as chief poised to step down

WASHINGTON — Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff who has steered President Joe Biden's administration through two years of triumphs and setbacks, is expected to step down in coming weeks in the most significant changing of the guard since Biden took office two years ago.

Klain, 61, has been telling colleagues privately since the November midterm elections that after a grueling, nonstop stretch at Biden's side going back to the 2020 campaign, he is ready to move on, according to senior administration officials, and a search for a replacement has been underway.

The officials, who discussed internal matters on condition of anonymity, would not say whether a successor has already been picked or when the decision would be announced, but indicated that it would come at some point after Biden outlined his agenda for the coming year in his State of the Union address on Feb. 7. Klain probably would stay around for a transition period to help the next chief settle into the corner office that has been his command post for many crises and legislative battles.

His resignation would mark a striking moment of turnover at the top of an administration that has been relatively stable through the first half of Biden's term, and Klain takes pride that he has lasted longer than any other Democratic president's first chief of staff in more than a half-century. But with Biden expected to announce by spring that he is running for reelection, advisers predict more moves as some aides shift from the White House to the campaign.

The departure would also come at a time when the White House faces a widening array of political and legal threats from a newly appointed special counsel investigating the improper handling of classified documents and a flurry of other inquiries by the newly installed Republican majority in the House. The next chief of staff will be charged with managing the defense of Biden's White House and any counterattack as the 2024 election approaches.

Among the possible choices to replace Klain mentioned by senior officials are Labor Secretary Marty Walsh; former Delaware Gov. Jack Markell, now serving as ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Anita Dunn, a senior adviser to Biden; Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president; Jeff Zients, the administration's former coronavirus response coordinator; Susan Rice, White House domestic policy adviser; and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Neither Klain nor any of those named as possible candidates to succeed him had any immediate comment Saturday in response to messages.