The Mastermind of Joe Biden’s Presidential Win is an FHS Graduate

Siddharth Chandra, Writer

Yes, you read the headline right. Joe Biden’s campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillion is an FHS graduate. She was born in Franklin, MA on September 28, 1976. Her parents were both Franklin educators. Her mom Katherine was a second-grade teacher at Oak Street, and her dad Kevin was an Assistant Principal at FHS and the head of the charter school. Jen was part of Franklin High’s Class of 1994. She went on to study at Tufts University with a major in political science and was the captain of the Softball team there. After that, she slowly worked her way up through the world of politics and eventually became the campaign manager for the President-Elect Joe Biden. Check out the timeline of her career below:

Career

  • Jen’s first job in politics was answering phones for Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger
  • She worked for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign as a field organizer and became a regional field director by the end of the campaign
  • She worked with Tim Johnson and Mary Landrieu as a field director for both of their senate race campaigns
  • In 2003, Jen worked as a field director for the John Edwards presidential campaign
  • After Edwards dropped out of the race, she worked as the deputy campaign manager for senator Tom Daschle
  • Jen returned to work for John Edwards as the Iowa state director, later becoming the deputy campaign manager
  • She then joined Obama’s campaign as a battleground state director
  • After Obama won the presidency, Jen aided in his transition by working as his associate director of personnel
  • She was hired by Tim Kaine as director of the DNC
  • Next, Jen returned to work on Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign as a deputy campaign manager
  • She co-founded a political consulting firm called Precision Strategies with Stephanie Carter and Teddy Goff
  • After the 2016 elections, she became a chair of the DNC’s Unity Reform Commission
  • At the end of 2019, Jen started to work as Beto O’Rourke’s campaign manager
  • Finally, in April of 2020, Jen became the new campaign manager for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign
  • After Biden won, he announced that she would take on the role of White House Deputy Chief of Staff even though she told friends that she had “no interest in working in the West Wing after the campaign” (CNN)

As you can see, it took Dillon decades of hard work to climb up the political system towards one of the most important positions in the White House. She honestly does not receive enough credit for what she was able to do with Joe Biden’s campaign. Did you know her name prior to reading this article? It is clear that there is a lot in store for the future of Jen O’Malley Dillon, a graduate of FHS.