Omaha native Symone Sanders will serve as chief spokeswoman for Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
President-elect Joe Biden announced Sanders’ role on his history-making communications team Sunday.
Beginning Jan. 20, women for the first time will hold all of the White House’s top communications posts, according to the Washington Post.
Sanders, who grew up in North Omaha, will serve the highest-ranking woman in the history of the executive branch, Harris.
In that role, Sanders will speak for the first woman of color on a presidential ticket and the first to win the job. Biden and Harris beat outgoing President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Harris lauded the incoming administration’s communications team in a statement:
“Our country is facing unprecedented challenges — from the coronavirus pandemic to the economic crisis, to the climate crisis, and a long-overdue reckoning over racial injustice. To overcome these challenges, we need to communicate clearly, honestly, and transparently with the American people, and this experienced, talented, and barrier-shattering team will help us do that.”
Political observers had considered Sanders a top candidate to be spokeswoman for Biden. She had written about her desire to one day hold that job in her book, “No, You Shut Up: Speaking Truth to Power and Reclaiming America.”
This time, the podium went to Jennifer Psaki, a longtime Democratic party spokeswoman. The office will be led by Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s chief spokesman in the 2020 campaign.
Sanders is a graduate of Mercy High School and Creighton University. Her mother, Terri, is publisher of the Omaha Star, Nebraska’s only Black-owned newspaper. She has said she is proud of all her daughter has accomplished.
Symone Sanders in 2020 served as a senior adviser to the Biden campaign. She served Bernie Sanders as press secretary during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Sanders noted the history in a Sunday afternoon tweet, saying “AN ALL LADY SQUAD!”
She said she was honored to speak for Harris.
“Ready to serve accurately describes how I feel. Thank you Madam Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris for entrusting me with this charge. It has been the honor of my life to work for @JoeBiden & I am elated to have the opportunity to continue to that work in the PEOPLE’S HOUSE,” she tweeted.
