Biden-Harris campaign names Varoon Modak as ballot access counsel

The Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign has tapped two political veterans including Indian American lawyer Varoon Modak to lead the effort to get President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the ballot across the nation.

Modak, who currently works as counsel in Elias Law Group’s Political Law practice, will work as general counsel for the ballot access effort with Alana Mounce, former executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party, serving as director.

Mounce and Modak “will oversee the campaign efforts to cement President Biden’s place on the ballot in all 57 states and territories and lead the campaign’s delegate selection process,” according to a press release issued by the campaign.

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The team will “expand on the infrastructure built by the 2020 campaign and the DNC, including the existing massive volunteer and supporter network to ensure the president’s place on the ballot.”

Mounce and Modak’s work will be for both the primary and general election and the duo will also lead the campaign’s delegate selection process, which determines who represents each state at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next year.

“Their work will expand on the DNC’s critical organizing work across the country and be fundamental to the campaign’s efforts to engage our key supporters and volunteers,” Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden’s campaign manager, said in a statement to The Messenger.

“They will be responsible for finding new and innovative ways to engage and organize Biden-Harris supporters where they are, which is especially important in our battleground states, as well as ensuring our delegate selection process reflects the values and diversity of our party,” she said.

“Alana and Varoon are extraordinarily talented, hardworking, and experienced on this issue, and our campaign is stronger with their leadership,” Chavez Rodriguez added.

As a counsel in Elias Law Group’s Political Law practice, Modak advised candidates, elected officials, PACs, ballot measure committees, non-profit organizations, and other clients on federal, state, and local campaign finance, lobbying and ethics laws, as well as ballot access, recounts, voting rights, election administration, and other election law matters, according to the law office’s website.

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Prior to that he was an associate at Perkins Coie LLP and a California-based political law firm. He also previously served as in-house counsel for a national political organization, and as a judicial law clerk for Arthur S. Weissbrodt of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California.

Before earning his law degree, he worked for several political consulting and polling firms in California.

Modak is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center and the University of California, Berkeley. Based in Washington, DC, he is also a member of the California Political Attorneys Association.