Reema Dodin joined President Biden’s White House team alongside FTC Chair Lina Khan and Deputy Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi.
Biden named Dodin Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs in November 2020. She is the highest ranking Palestinian-American woman to hold a position in the Executive Office of the President. She will serve alongside Shuwanza Goff.
Dodin is a fellow with Truman National Security and the New Leaders Council. She is an alum of the Aspen Institute Socrates program for emerging leaders. She is also a member of the Jenkins Hill Society for women in politics and female politicians.
Reema Dodin worked under Senator Durbin
In 2019 Dodin became U.S. Senator and Democratic Whip Dick Durbin’s Deputy Chief of Staff.
“Reema began as a law school intern in my office fourteen years ago and progressed to become one of the most respected staffers on the Hill,” said Durbin. “She is smart, trusted and has the respect of members and staff on both sides of the aisle.”
In 2006 Dodin first began working for Durbin as an intern. She assumed the role of the senator’s Research Director in 2008, where she worked on legislation and campaigning. In 2009 Dodin became Floor Counsel in Durbin’s Office of the Assistant Majority Leader. She then moved up to Floor Director in 2011. Dodin directed the whip operation for the Senate Democratic leadership team and advised on the caucus floor strategy.
Dodin led legislative engagement for the confirmation process as a volunteer on the Biden-Harris Transition Team. She also volunteered for several political campaigns, including Obama for America, as a voter-protection counsel. Dodin also served as an aide on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law.
In 2017 Dodin co-authored Inside Congress: A Guide for Navigating the Politics of the House and Senate Floors. Bookings Publications published the primer.
Dodin earned her Juris Doctor that from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign in 2006. She is licensed with the California Bar.
Reema Dodin’s Palestinian background
Dodin was born in North Carolina and raised in Southern California. Her Jordinian-Palestinian parents immigrated from Dura in Israel’s West Bank in the 1970s.
Her grandfather, Mustafa Dodin, was a Jordanian social affairs minister. He established the Village Leagues, which were meant to start peace negotiations with Israel, in the 1970s.
Dodin earned her B.A. in political science and economics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2002. Before graduating college, she also spent some time as an emergency medical technician in Israel.
Reema Dodin became Deputy Director of Legislative Affairs
On November 23, 2020 Biden named Dodin Deputy Director of the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. Both her and Shuwanza Goff will assist the administration in negotiating legislation with Congress in this position.
Goff formerly worked for House of Representatives Majority Leader Steny Hoyer as Floor Director. She is the first Black woman to hold the deputy director position.
Dodin is the first Palestinian-American to hold a senior White House Staffer position.
“She is smart, trusted, and has the respect of members on both sides of the aisle,” Dodin’s mentor Durbin said in a tweet. “Reema is just what our new President needs to help him in the Senate.”
