Trump, Harris ‘both behind’ on transition planning

By Robin Bravender | 07/25/2024 01:33 PM EDT

A good government nonprofit is urging both campaigns to hustle to get presidential transition operations up and running. 

Donalds Trump and Kamala Harris

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris AP

The campaigns of former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are both lagging when it comes to setting up presidential transition operations, the leaders of a good government group warned Thursday as they urged both White House hopefuls to pick up the pace.

“They are both behind and need to move with dispatch,” said Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

Effectively governing the country “should be the goal” of presidential campaigns, Stier said, although the nitty-gritty planning for a transition will “always take second fiddle” to winning the campaign.

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President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday to drop his reelection bid means that a new president will move into the White House on Jan. 20. Reconfiguring the federal government — even if the executive branch stays under control of the same political party — is a lot of work. The next president will lay out their own priorities for the executive branch and will have 4,000 political appointments to make across agencies.

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