West Cook News

Oak Park resident Sheila Nix was recently promoted by President Joe Biden as the campaign chief of staff for Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Nix was raised in Palatine and is a Palatine High School graduate.

“In this job, I’m looking forward to helping voters understand the stark choices before them in the 2024 presidential election,” Nix told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Nix, a highly experienced political figure, has had a diverse career working with notable individuals such as Bono, Rod Blagojevich, and Joe Biden. She has held significant positions, including chief of staff to Democrat U.S. Senators Bob Kerrey and Bill Nelson, campaign manager for Joe Biden, and chief of staff to Jill Biden.

Nix has a long history of working with the Bidens, having served as campaign chief of staff for Vice President Biden during President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and as Dr. Jill Biden's chief of staff during the Obama/Biden administration, according to Chicago Magazine. In the 2020 election, Nix held the position of campaign chief of staff for then-Senator Kamala Harris when she was chosen as Biden's running mate. Currently serving as the chief of staff for Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, Nix will join the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign in July. Her role will involve advising Harris on various issues, including reproductive rights, gun safety, and highlighting the achievements of the Biden administration.

Nix is the past president of Tusk Philanthropies and a proponent of mobile voting. Tusk Philanthropies, which was previously led by Nix and Bradley Tusk, has been supporting mobile voting pilots in various locations, despite security concerns. In 2020 she discussed the potential role of mobile voting in the Trump vs. Biden election. At the time, Democrat U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Ron Wyden introduced a bill to enable voting by mail. While Nix acknowledges the importance of mail-in voting, she argues that mobile voting should also be considered, particularly for individuals who face challenges with traditional mail-in ballots, such as the visually impaired, "because you can't fill out the ballot yourself," she told Protocol. 

Working under Harris may put Nix’s skills to the test. According to a January poll conducted by AP-National Opinion Research Center, 43% of U.S. adults expressed a favorable opinion of Biden, while only 36% held a favorable opinion of Harris, CBC News reported. Harris is well known for her audible gaffes and odd behavior in representing the U.S.A. 

"She's not a good messenger," Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for a super political action committee supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, told the AP. "She is prone to not only stepping on the message, but putting out word salad answers, and then when she gets uncomfortable, getting into a laughing fit.” Republicans may raise concerns about the possibility of a Harris presidency decided by time rather than voters. Although vice-presidential candidates usually make a difference at the margins, recent history has shown that presidential elections can be decided by slim margins.