Andrew Bates (spokesman)
Andrew James Bates is an American political staffer who served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Deputy Press Secretary. A member of the Democratic Party, he was previously the Director of Rapid Response for the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign. Bates also worked in the Obama-Biden Administration as Press Secretary for the Office of [the United States Trade Representative|U.S. Trade Representative] and as a communications aide in the White House. Bates was the North Carolina communications director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and led the Democratic super PAC American Bridge's House races arm in 2018.
Early life and education
Bates is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He graduated from Richard Joshua Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem. He has a bachelor's degree in Political Science from North Carolina State University, where he graduated in 2009 after taking time off to intern for the 2008 Obama campaign.Career
Obama administration
While studying political science at North Carolina State University, Bates took time off from school to intern for the 2008 Obama campaign. After returning to earn his degree, he was hired by the White House as a media monitor, later becoming a press assistant and then a researcher.In December 2013, Bates began serving as press secretary to the U.S. Trade Representative, Ambassador Michael Froman. While transitioning roles, Politico wrote that he had been a "fixture" of the Obama communications team.
2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign
Bates was the North Carolina communications director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.2020 Joe Biden presidential campaign
At its launch in April 2019, Bates joined the 2020 presidential campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden as Director of Rapid Response.During the Democratic Party presidential primaries|Democratic primary], with then-president Donald Trump stepping up attacks on Biden following news breaking that he had withheld military aid to Ukraine in an attempt to pressure the Zelenskyy government to tarnish the former vice president, Bates told The Washington Post, "For someone who claims to be a 'dealmaker,' Donald Trump has certainly given Joe Biden a lot of rent-free real estate in his own head."
In November 2020, with Trump signaling that he would refuse to concede the election, Bates responded, "The American people will decide this election. And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."
Biden administration
Bates was the White House Press Office's point person for the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the United States Supreme Court, working under Ben LaBolt.In October 2022, Bates was promoted to White House Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser for Strategic Response.
He denounced Donald Trump for saying the Constitution should be "terminated." He also called it "sickening" when Trump shared a social media video that contained the term "unified Reich."
In the aftermath of the 2023 Hawaii wildfires, Bates defended President Biden against the Republican National Committee's criticism of the president stopping to pet a search-and-rescue dog while greeting first responders during a visit to Maui.
Bates criticized Elon Musk for a tweet that appeared to endorse replacement theory: "We condemn this abhorrent promotion of Antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms, which runs against our core values as Americans."
In December 2023, after multiple university presidents testified about Antisemitism on college campuses but refused to say if calling for genocide of Jews constituted harassment, Bates released a statement saying, "It's unbelievable that this needs to be said: calls for genocide are monstrous and antithetical to everything we represent as a country."
In May 2024, it was announced that Bates was moving in to the role of Senior Deputy Press Secretary.
The May 2025 book Original Sin, by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, alleges Bates was the "tip of the spear" in the public-facing defense of President Biden's mental acuity during his administration. Bates responded that some of the book's claims are "distorted" and "stretching select facts."