Election 2020
Why the Heritage Foundation matters to the Biden-Harris transition
Tuesday, November 24, marks the long-awaited, official start to the Biden-Harris transition.
As is required by federal law, transition planning started long ago, despite the wrangling with Trump’s General Services Administration over the final ascertainment of the election outcome that frees federal funding and office space for the incoming administration. Since at least May of this year (and maybe even before that), Joe Biden’s close advisers have been figuring out what they would do — if elected — and who they would choose to staff the White House and cabinet.
They don’t do this alone.
Groups and experts vie to direct these deliberations, typically in a secretive game of persuasion that has major ramifications for the next four years. A bit of history (drawn from a chapter in a book published in 2012) helps to show the way the most effective groups win this game.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan victory saw a wave of new ideas and government officials. According to political scientist, Terry Moe, the Reagan campaign team believed steadfastly in loyalty and a commitment to conservativism, and chose transition officials accordingly: “Like Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, Reagan relied on task forces during the transition…
