Biden campaign expands staff in Texas

The Biden campaign is expanding its staff in Texas with 13 new hires as polls indicate the Lone Star state is in play just weeks before Election Day.

The new hires, announced Monday, include alumni of the Obama administration, Texas state legislature and Texas congressional delegation.

Dallas Jones, a political consultant and commentator, will serve as political director, while Jackie Uresti, the 2016 state director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and Jerry Phillips, the former executive director of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, will join as political advisers.

Bethanie Olivan, who worked on the 2020 presidential campaign for former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro, will serve as a digital organizing director. Terry Bermea, ex-deputy state director for former presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, will join the Biden campaign as an organizing director.

The campaign said David Gins will be state operations director and Victoria Godinez will be a communications associate. The other new hires include six deputy coalitions directors: Dominique Calhoun, Terri Ervin, Karim Farishta, Joseph Ramirez, Deidre Rasheed and Lola Wilson.

The staff expansion, first reported by The Texas Tribune, comes amid a debate among Democrats about whether presidential nominee Joe Biden should seek electoral gains in states such as Texas or focus almost exclusively on traditional battleground states such as Pennsylvania.

Polls have indicated a tight race between Biden and President Trump in Texas, where a Democratic presidential candidate hasn’t won since former President Carter in 1976.

A poll released earlier this month by The Dallas Morning News and the University of Texas found the Biden and Trump neck and neck in the state, with Trump holding a slim 2 percentage point lead among likely voters. A similar survey released in early July found Biden leading Trump by 5 points among likely voters.

The Biden campaign announced its first Texas hires for the general election at the beginning of August.