Hill Diversity

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Joint Center Commends Senator-Elect Doug Jones on Hiring of Black Chief of Staff

This afternoon Senator-elect Doug Jones (D-AL) announced Dana Gresham as his chief of staff.
In selecting Mr. Gresham, Senator-elect Jones will have the only African American chief of staff in the Senate’s Democratic caucus.
Although African Americans account for 23% of Democratic voters, before this announcement they accounted for just 1% of top Democratic Senate staff, both of whom are legislative directors (Clint Odom in Senator Harris’s office and Roscoe Jones in Senator Feinstein’s office).

The two other Black chiefs of staff in the U.S. Senate both work for Republicans—Jennifer DeCasper in the office of Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Brennan Britton in the office of Senator Jerry Moran (R-KS).
The following is a statement by Don Bell, the Director of the Black Talent Initiative at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.
“The Joint Center commends Senator-elect Jones for his leadership and commitment to diversity. This is an important moment in the movement to make the Senate truly representative of all Americans. The Joint Center looks forward to continuing to work with Senator-elect Jones as he makes diversity a priority in building the rest of his staff.”

Key Resources
Click here for a link to the full Joint Center fact sheet on diversity among top U.S. Senate staff.
Click here for a tweet from Doug Jones announcing his new chief of staff.
Click here for Dana Gresham’s full Linkedin profile.
Click here for an Obama Administration post by Mr. Gresham.
Daniel Strauss, “Doug Jones hires African-American chief of staff,” Politico, Jan. 2, 2018.

Seth McLaughlin, “Doug Jones selects Dana Gresham, a black man,” for chief of staff, The Washington Times, Jan. 2, 2018.

Elizabeth Elizalde, “Doug Jones selects black ex-Obama official as chief of staff”, New York Daily News, Jan. 2, 2018.
David Caplan, ” Doug Jones hires Senate Democrats’ only African- American chief of staff”, ABC News, Jan. 3, 2018.
Bruce C.T Wright, ” Doug Jones Makes Key Hire As Senate’s Top Staffs Struggle With Diversity”, News One, Jan. 2, 2018.
David Weigel, ” Alabama Sen.-elect Doug Jones picks an African American for chief of staff”, The Washington Post, Jan. 2, 2018.

Lisa Hagen, ” Doug Jones to become only Dem senator with a black chief of staff”, The Hill, Jan. 2, 2018.

Hanno van der Bijl, ” Doug Jones hires Alabamians for key senior staff positions”, Birmingham Business Journal, Jan. 2, 2018.
Paula Rogo, “Doug Jones Appoints The Only Black Chief Of Staff For Senate Democrats With Dana Gresham”, Essence, Jan. 4, 2018.

Mashaun D. Simon, ” Five things about Dana Gresham, Senate Democrats’ only black chief of staff”, NBC News, Jan. 3, 2018.
Lauren Victoria Burke, “Doug Jones Hired Dana Gresham, Who Will Soon Be the Senate’s Only Black Chief of Staff”, Politic365, Jan. 3, 2018.
Liz Lane, “Doug Jones Becomes Only Democratic Senator With a Black Chief of Staff”,  NBC Philadelphia, Jan. 3, 2018.
Frederick H. Lowe, ” The Big pay Back: U.S Senator-elect, Doug Jones Hires a Black Chief of Staff”, Jacksonville Free Press, Jan. 5, 2018.
Bankole Thompson, ” Alabama Sen. Doug Jones teaches Dems inclusion”, The Detroit News, Jan. 7, 2018.
Media Contact
BETEL HAILU
Digital Media Associate
betel@jointcenter.org

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy organization that supports elected officials and policy experts who serve communities of color across the United States.