‘He needs to earn our trust:’ Progressive groups begin push for Biden to keep Wall Street out of the White House – CNBC
Progressive groups that haven often been aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders are pushing Joe Biden to keep Wall Street executives and business leaders from being part of his administration if he wins the presidency.
While the former vice president has said he has not started speaking with possible members of his potential cabinet, he recently told donors that he has been discussing with his advisors who he would ask to join his administration. Biden is currently in the process of considering candidates to be his vice presidential running mate.
After Sanders dropped out of the race Wednesday, several progressive groups signed a letter to Biden calling on him to pledge that he will not appoint leaders on Wall Street and K-Street, or those in the fossil fuel and health care industries to campaign advisory roles or to cabinet posts.
The letter, which can be found here, also calls on Biden to assign people who endorsed Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another progressive, to be co-chairs of his prospective transition team. The groups also urge him to appoint advisors such as Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who is an advocate for the "Green New Deal," to his National Economic Council. Stiglitz was reportedly on a list of advisors being pushed to Hillary Clinton by Warren in 2014 before the former secretary of State ran for president.
The groups signing the letter to Biden include Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement and NextGen Action.
The progressive groups who spoke with CNBC said that if Biden does not follow these guidelines, he could suffer from low voter turnout in the general election and end up losing to Trump. One group is putting together opposition research against business leaders who are backing Biden's campaign.
"He needs to earn our trust," Waleed Shahid, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, told CNBC. "Personnel is policy, it's where the rubber meets the road in terms of your values and commitments."
Biden, for his part, seems to be trying to appeal to many of Sanders' supporters. He rolled out a plan on Thursday that would lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60 from 65, while also bolstering his student debt forgiveness plan hours after the Department of Labor releasednew data showing 6.6 million people filed initial jobless claims last week as the economy reels from the coronavirus.
Our Revolution, a 501(c)(4) organization founded by Sanders himself that backed his 2020 run for president told CNBC it is opposed to executives from the finance industry of becoming policy advisors to Biden now that he is the apparent nominee. The group did not sign the letter, but is looking into approaching his campaign.Sanders has been openly opposed to leaders in the finance industry playing any role in campaigns and in administrations.
"That's certainly not what we want to see," said Paco Fabian, Our Revolution's campaigns director. "I think it just increases the probability that their policy positions are the ones that get implemented and not the ones the folks on the progressive spectrum would be pushing for."
"At some point we probably will," when asked if they plan to reach out to the Biden campaign. "We haven't figured out the best way to do that and the main issues we are going to engage with the Biden campaign on."
Another group has started putting together opposition research on a host of Biden donors who work on Wall Street. The Revolving Door Project, which is part of the progressive think tank theCenter for Economic and Policy Research, has put together a research packet on Mark Gallogly, the co-founder of investment firm Centerbridge Partners, said the group's executive director, Jeff Hauser.
Gallogly has been helping Biden with fundraising for part of the election cycle and some donors have been privately discussing the idea of him being one of his economic advisors if he makes it into the White House. The opposition research cites reporting from CNBC, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Politico among others. It focuses on Gallogly's ties to Biden and reports on his firm's business ties to Puerto Rico.
Hauser noted that Jeffrey Zients, a former economic advisor to President Barack Obama who became the president of the Cranemere Group, and Tony James, the executive vice chairman at Blackstone, are two Biden supporters they are looking to do research on.
"I expect progressives have their own sort of critiques on how government works but less on revolvers, which they'll pick up from the research we do," Hauser said.
NextGen America, a super PAC founded and funded by billionaire Tom Steyer that has an army of grassroots get-out-the-vote activists, believes that in order for Biden to appeal to young voters he's going to have to make some compromises.
"We're going to work our ass off to get young people to the polls in November. You can throw all the money and time into that problem, but if you don't have a willing partner it's not going to be as effective as it could be," said Ben Wessel, the group's executive director.
A Biden spokesman did not return a request for comment.
- Commentary: The NIMBY crowd and progressives both find ways to oppose new housing - Crain's Chicago Business - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- What progressives wont say about abortion The sanitised narrative ignores ethical truths - UnHerd - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- A tariff-funded UBI? Trump just gave progressives their blueprint - Competitive Enterprise Institute - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- How Should Progressives Respond to the Next Recession? - The Roosevelt Institute - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Robin V. Sears: Canadas progressives need to rethink the green reality - Toronto Star - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- The next Mamdanis: Oss latest in slew of progressives aiming to oust moderate democrats - Yahoo - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- WHO RUNS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY? PROGRESSIVES AND MODERATES FIGHT FOR POWER A Democratic congresswoman just slapped her own teammate with a formal... - November 14th, 2025 [November 14th, 2025]
- House Progressives Denounce 'Morally Bankrupt' Bill to End Shutdown Without Healthcare Guarantee - Common Dreams - November 14th, 2025 [November 14th, 2025]
- Progressives intensify campaign to replace Schumer after Democrats end shutdown without healthcare deal - Nation of Change - November 14th, 2025 [November 14th, 2025]
- Progressives need to back down on health care subsidies fight: Letters - Press of Atlantic City - November 14th, 2025 [November 14th, 2025]
- Centrist Democrats say they had no choice but to craft a deal to end the shutdown. Progressives are fed up - PBS - November 11th, 2025 [November 11th, 2025]
- Lessons for liberals: what can Dutch progressives victory over populism teach the world? - The Guardian - November 11th, 2025 [November 11th, 2025]
- Obama celebrates Tuesday wins and tells progressives that voters are rejecting the Trump agenda - abcnews.go.com - November 11th, 2025 [November 11th, 2025]
- Progressives Rage: Deal To End Shutdown Is A 'Betrayal' Of US Voters - International Business Times UK - November 11th, 2025 [November 11th, 2025]
- Spokane progressives post strong showing on Election Night as voters signal they're receptive to taxes - The Spokesman-Review - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Progressives like AOC hate conservative women. Mocking them is not a good look. | Opinion - USA Today - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Michigan lawmakers Carter, Whitsett get bounced in Detroit races in favor of progressives - Michigan Advance - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race, in a historic victory for progressives - KUOW - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Progressives sound anti-women when they show their hatred for conservatives | Opinion - Yahoo - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Texas And National Election Results: How El Paso Voted Against Other Texas Voters and the Rise of the Democratic Progressives - El Paso Herald Post - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Progressives $950M in Florida Regurgitation to Mostly Be Credits in Renewals - Insurance Journal - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Five takeaways from Colorados election as voters deliver big Denver bond victory, boost Aurora progressives - The Denver Post - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- Spiritual Progressives invite public to first meeting Nov. 13 - Brownwood News - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- The Progressives' Bible And Its Critics - Patheos - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- NYT Article accuses AG Miyares of Abuse of Power helping Trump to attack Progressives - Daily Kos - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- With Zohran Mamdani, have progressives found their counter to MAGA branding? | news.qlsh.net - news.qlsh.net - November 5th, 2025 [November 5th, 2025]
- The Democrats' problem in the Senate is not progressives | Weekly roundup for November 2, 2025 - Strength In Numbers | G. Elliott Morris - November 3rd, 2025 [November 3rd, 2025]
- An open letter to my sister - and my fellow white progressives | opinion - York Daily Record - October 31st, 2025 [October 31st, 2025]
- German Progressives Raise the Specter of the Far Right - FSSPX News - October 31st, 2025 [October 31st, 2025]
- Why progressives still find Graham Platner appealing - The Boston Globe - October 30th, 2025 [October 30th, 2025]
- Heritage Action Cites Marxist Occupation of Our Streets to Support Cruz Bill Targeting Progressives - People For the American Way - October 30th, 2025 [October 30th, 2025]
- Progressives Rally Behind Katie Wilson in Home Stretch to Mayoral Election - The Urbanist - October 28th, 2025 [October 28th, 2025]
- Progressives will tear the Union apart if it keeps Farage out - The Telegraph - October 28th, 2025 [October 28th, 2025]
- Do Conservatives and Progressives Differ from the Brain? Cognitive Rigidity is Key - - October 26th, 2025 [October 26th, 2025]
- What Progressives Keep Getting Wrong - The Atlantic - October 26th, 2025 [October 26th, 2025]
- Opinion: In Amherst Town Elections Its Progressives vs. Neoliberals - Amherst Indy - October 24th, 2025 [October 24th, 2025]
- Local opinion: Progressives in city government aren't the problem - Arizona Daily Star - October 24th, 2025 [October 24th, 2025]
- Progressives Have Democrats Right Where They Want Them: Broke - National Review - October 23rd, 2025 [October 23rd, 2025]
- Young progressives say they feel uninspired by Democrats. Will the state party listen? - IndyStar - October 23rd, 2025 [October 23rd, 2025]
- How Progressives Broke The Constitution And Praised Themselves For It OpEd - Eurasia Review - October 23rd, 2025 [October 23rd, 2025]
- Ignore progressives: Child-welfare probes work saving kids - New York Post - October 21st, 2025 [October 21st, 2025]
- Victor Davis Hanson: Trump is trying to redirect what progressives altered about American life - AOL.com - October 19th, 2025 [October 19th, 2025]
- No 'Abundance' of caution: Populists and progressives are winning the argument among Democrats - Washington Examiner - October 19th, 2025 [October 19th, 2025]
- Can the ACLU Serve Progressives, Libertarians, and Conservatives? - Reason Magazine - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- America vs China Bombing vs Building: Who wins? Progressives: time to be aggressive. - Daily Kos - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- The Defeatism Among Progressives is a Gift To The Fascists; Knock it Off. - Daily Kos - October 17th, 2025 [October 17th, 2025]
- In a New Book, Gene Nichol Calls On North Carolina Progressives to Get Up Off the Mat - INDY Week - October 15th, 2025 [October 15th, 2025]
- Seattle nonprofit will bus advocates to Spokane to campaign for local progressives - Yahoo - October 11th, 2025 [October 11th, 2025]
- Seattle nonprofit will bus advocates to Spokane to campaign for local progressives - The Center Square - October 11th, 2025 [October 11th, 2025]
- Exclusive | Zohran Mamdani PACs raked in thousands from media allies, progressives with ties to radicals - New York Post - October 9th, 2025 [October 9th, 2025]
- Why progressives may not be as 'woke' as they think - CBC - October 7th, 2025 [October 7th, 2025]
- DeepDive: With progressives birthrates falling, Canadas future (might be) Conservative - The Hub | More Signal. Less Noise. - October 7th, 2025 [October 7th, 2025]
- How progressives should respond to the Manchester synagogue stabbings - MSNBC News - October 4th, 2025 [October 4th, 2025]
- Progressives and the Supreme Court: The Case for Disengagement Is Misguided - Election Law Blog - October 4th, 2025 [October 4th, 2025]
- Progressives Organize 'Shutdown Showdown' to Defend Healthcare From Trump and GOP - Common Dreams - October 4th, 2025 [October 4th, 2025]
- After Manchester, progressives should know this: Jewish people feel very alone. We need you to stand with us - The Guardian - October 4th, 2025 [October 4th, 2025]
- Appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, Associate US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is one of six justices in the court's... - October 4th, 2025 [October 4th, 2025]
- What Progressives Should Be Thinking About Social Security Reform - American Enterprise Institute - October 2nd, 2025 [October 2nd, 2025]
- The international progressives: A source of hope for the world trading system - Peterson Institute for International Economics - September 25th, 2025 [September 25th, 2025]
- Progressives Can Lead With a Just Foreign Policy. First, They Must Confront Their Mistakes. - The Century Foundation - September 23rd, 2025 [September 23rd, 2025]
- Why Welsh progressives must unite to stop Reform - Nation.Cymru - September 23rd, 2025 [September 23rd, 2025]
- Progressives grapples with how to respond to vitriol, blame following Kirk's death - NPR - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- Progressives can never be wrong - The Spectator - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- Progressives grapples with how to respond to vitriol, blame following Kirk's death - VPM - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- Column: The U.S. birthrate is falling it's time progressives stop ignoring it - - The Daily Tar Heel - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- Phelim McAleer: After Charlie Kirk's assassination, Donald Trump must take on and win this war with the progressives - Belfast News Letter - September 17th, 2025 [September 17th, 2025]
- Opinion | White nationalists are filling a void left by retreating progressives - The Spec - September 13th, 2025 [September 13th, 2025]
- Organizers hope new political group Elevate Oak Park will offer alternative to progressives in power - Chicago Tribune - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans plan filibuster changes that could leave progressives torn - The Boston Globe - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- Progressives NIMBYs Threaten Affordable Housing In New York And L.A. - Forbes - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- EU Leader Calls to Sanction Israel as U.S. Progressives Push to End Arms Sales - The Intercept - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- Glenn Beck Exposes Progressives Plot to Rewrite America and Erase God from Its Foundation - Charisma Magazine Online - September 11th, 2025 [September 11th, 2025]
- Progressives Throw Their Support To Jawando For County Executive - Montgomery Community Media - September 5th, 2025 [September 5th, 2025]
- Progressives Are Headed for Self-Imposed Extinction - AMAC - September 3rd, 2025 [September 3rd, 2025]
- The Revenge of the States: How Progressives Learned to Love Federalism - La Voce di New York - September 1st, 2025 [September 1st, 2025]
- How a small band of determined progressives is being heard in a deep-red Missouri county - Columbia Missourian - September 1st, 2025 [September 1st, 2025]
- Thunberg and Like-Minded Progressives Sail to GazaAgain - The European Conservative - September 1st, 2025 [September 1st, 2025]
- Progressives underestimate the danger of subway disorder - UnHerd - August 29th, 2025 [August 29th, 2025]
- Democrats withdraw two-state resolution to avoid clash with progressives on Israel and Palestinians - The Forward - August 27th, 2025 [August 27th, 2025]
- The far right are feeding off anger. Progressives must do the same - TheNational.scot - August 27th, 2025 [August 27th, 2025]