Hoosier native and Biden advisor Ron Klain led debate prep. What does he think now?

As President Joe Biden fields questions about his candidacy, Indy native Ron Klain’s name comes up again and again, particularly regarding his role in debate preparations.

The former chief of staff left the White House in 2023 after working for Biden on and off for 38 years, but the two reportedly still talk nearly every day and have a friendship spanning decades.

“[I know] what just an incredibly down-to-earth, approachable, accessible person he is,” Klain told an IndyStar reporter about Biden in 2008. “Whenever you're with him — particularly in Delaware or on the train from Washington to Delaware and back — everyone calls him Joe; everyone feels like this is someone they know as a neighbor, as a friend.”

Now, as one of Biden's trusted advisors, Klain faces media attention over a new debate: should Biden stay the course of Democratic candidacy or bow out of the race?

So far, Klain has supported the president's decision to stay in the race. Biden is "like a father" to Klain, according to longtime Democratic National Committee member Elaine Kamarck. They've worked together nearly since Klain started in politics.

Klain was born in Indianapolis in 1961, graduating from North Central High School in 1979. In between attending Georgetown University and Harvard Law School, he interned for Indiana Sen. Birch Bayh.

While Klain's Indiana ties run deep, he boasts decades of work with the president. He was the youngest ever chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he worked with Biden, and he also worked on Biden’s failed 1988 presidential campaign. 

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Klain’s first chief of staff job was for vice president Al Gore, on whose presidential campaign he later worked (and whose fight over the Florida recount led to the movie "Recount," with Kevin Spacey playing Klain.) In 2008, Klain served as then-vice president Biden’s chief of staff, and when Biden was elected president in 2020, he again chose Klain to serve in the job.

Klain left the White House Feb. 7, 2023, likely due to a combination of family illness and criticism directed his way. The administration couldn't accomplish several top Democratic priorities, such as fighting climate change and lowering health care costs, and Biden's withdrawl from Afghanistan hurt the president's polling.

Klain’s role as an informal advisor to the president isn’t a secret. But he took the role a step further this spring when he took a month off from his job as chief legal officer at Airbnb to help Biden prepare for the debate. In preparations, Klain focused on making sure the president’s responses were quick, redirecting him and focusing on errors in a “bluntly critical” way few take with Biden, the New York Times reported.

Now, with Biden’s poor debate performance behind him, national media is starting to charge Klain with a new role: advising the president on whether or not to leave the race. 

“You belong to this small select group that Biden turns to in a moment of crisis. You should use the trust you’ve earned wisely,” Jeet Heer wrote for The Nation in a column he titled "Dear Ron Klain."

So far, Klain has supported Biden’s decision to stay in the race. He told the New York Times that Biden has proven his age gives him wisdom and experience, and that because he’s beaten former president Donald Trump once, he can beat him again.

“Look, if I thought he wasn’t the right candidate to beat Donald Trump, I wouldn’t be for him running,” Klein told the New York Times two days after the debate. “But I think he is the right candidate.”

Contact IndyStar politics Pulliam fellow Nadia Scharf at nscharf@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @nadiaascharf.