On Friday, Sept. 23, President Joe Biden promoted three veteran White House officials to the most senior levels of his staff in the West Wing. One is Latina White House veteran Emmy Ruiz, who was elevated to be a new Assistant to the President after serving as Director of Political Strategy and Outreach.

“Each are Day One members of our team, and I am proud to announce their promotions to assistants to the President and have them as senior most members of this White House and trusted advisors,” Biden said in a statement. “The work they do across this Administration is seen and felt by Americans all across this country.”

The White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain announced the newest promotions during the daily senior staff meeting 

The recent slate of legislative wins is something to look forward to for the administration and in the meantime, Biden has put people of color at the forefront of his cabinet. Ruiz is the latest promotion. 

Along with Ruiz, Biden promoted Jennifer Klein, the director of the White House Gender Policy Council and Vinay Reddy, Biden’s director of speechwriting, to the same positions. 

While the President is currently surrounded by longtime advisors, the three newest promotions including Ruiz, are a representation of Biden’s time in office, who have played big roles thus far in all of his successes. 

“Their promotions are a reflection of their hard work and unmatched expertise in each of their fields and I am proud to continue serving alongside them,” said Klain.

Klain’s announcement of the newest promotions was, according to a source close to CNN, was met with a round of applause that according to the source, showed an impression of their “well-liked, hard-working colleagues.” 

A longtime Democrat, Ruiz was born in Harlingen, Texas and raised in La Feria, Texas. Ruiz earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature from the University of Texas at San Antonio and has since worked on different Democratic campaigns. 

After college, she was a grant writer for American Red Cross and through her job at Red Cross, was able to get in contact with former Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton back in 2008, during her first presidential run. She then applied to be a field organizer in Las Vegas for the Clinton campaign during that year's Nevada Democratic presidential caucuses. 

Ruiz then was also the Nevada general election director for the Barack Obama 2012 presidential campaign and also managed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign efforts in Nevada, Ohio, and Colorado. She also became a partner at NEWCO Strategies in February 2019, a strategic consulting firm. 

She also served as a senior advisor for the Kamala Harris primary campaign during the 2020 Democratic Presidential primaries. In January 2021, it was announced that Ruiz would be the White House’s Director of Political Strategy and Outreach under the Biden Administration, succeeding Brian Jack, who held the position before her.