Biden names Indian American to key post in his presidential campaign

Medha Raj, insert, has joined by Joe Biden presidential campaign staff.

A day after releasing information on the diversity of Joe Biden's campaign staff, it was announced that Medha Raj has been appointed digital chief of staff, a key role in Biden's election campaign, which will be going almost entirely virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.

"Excited to share that I've joined Joe Biden's campaign as the Digital Chief of Staff. 130 days to the election and we're not going to waste a minute!" the Indian American said on LinkedIn.

At a digital town hall with AAPI leaders Saturday, Biden was asked Saturday about Asian American and Pacific Islander representation, the campaign noted besides the digital chief of staff, AAPI senior leaders on the campaign include the campaign's chief financial officer, chief operating officer, national voter protection director, director of digital partnerships and surrogates director.

The Biden campaign said 35% percent of Biden's full-time staff are people of color, while 36% of senior staff are people of color. Both senior staff and full-time staff are majority women, with 53% full-time staff and 58% of senior staff identifying as female.

In her new position, Raj will work across all facets of the digital department to streamline and coordinate how to maximize the impact of its digital outputs, Biden's campaign said.

A resident of Los Angeles, Southern California, Raj has previously worked for eight months (from August 2019 to March 2020) on the Pete Buttigieg presidential campaign.

Raj graduated from Georgetown University and earned her MBA from Stanford University. She has worked as a research assistant for Real Institute Elcano in Spain. She was also a consultant at Deloitte and worked on the strategy team for Flippable.org and the investment team at Higher Ground Labs.

"Asian Americans are being targeted with violence and subjected to xenophobic rhetoric from the mouth of the president himself," Biden said at the town hall.

He added, "Our AAPI community is essential. Period. Period. Not just as essential workers, but essential to the very fabric of this nation."