Former Rep. Tom Perriello sent a letter showing support from former President Barack Obama's staff. | Getty Obama team lines up behind Perriello

Seeking to drape himself in the mantle of Barack Obama in his Virginia gubernatorial race, former Rep. Tom Perriello on Wednesday began circulating a letter showing support from more than two dozen members of the former president’s staff, according to a copy obtained by POLITICO.

Among the 29 signers: Obama’s 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe; former White House deputy chief of staff Nancy-Ann DeParle; former White House Senior Adviser Dan Pfeiffer; former White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri; former White House deputy senior adviser, Stephanie Cutter; former White House social secretary Julianna Smoot; former White House Domestic Policy Council Director Cecilia Muñoz; and former White House director of political affairs, Patrick Gaspard, fresh off a stint as the U.S. ambassador to South Africa.


Locked in a tight Democratic primary battle with Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam — who has the backing of much of Virginia’s party leadership, including Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine — Perriello’s goal is to align himself with one of the party’s most popular figures as he advocates for a break from McAuliffe’s administration, if not a radical one.

“Tom embodies the pragmatic progressive values that President Obama fought so hard for over the past eight years. In Congress, Tom stood with President Obama — even though he represented a red district — to pass the Affordable Care Act, to support climate change legislation to protect our planet, and to prevent a depression through the Recovery Act,” reads the roughly 450-word letter. “Tom didn’t just take these votes; he defended them and ran on them despite the tea party wave that scared others into political expediency. While many Democrats ran away from the president in 2010, Tom didn't."

Perriello lost in 2010 to GOP Rep. Robert Hurt by 4 percentage points. Obama campaigned for him the weekend before the election, making Perriello the only House member to get a personal political visit from the president.

Other signers of Wednesday's letter include: Tina Tchen, the former chief of staff to Michelle Obama; former White House director of legislative affairs, Amy Rosenbaum; former White House Office of Public Engagement Director Jon Carson; former White House director of Media Affairs, Christina Reynolds; former Obama campaign Digital Director Teddy Goff; and former Obama campaign director of Paid Media, Larry Grisolano.

“The right leader at the right moment can do extraordinary good. We are at a fearful crossroads in this country. We were as disappointed as anyone to see Donald Trump, a man who represents everything we have stood against, be elected,” the letter continues. “We have also watched with horror as he has assaulted so many of the progressive gains we made, It will take strong and courageous leaders to fight back and put forth new ideas to lead out party and our people into the progressive future."

Perriello has in recent weeks also rolled out endorsements from former Obama administration officials John Podesta and Neera Tanden, each of whom worked with him at the liberal Center for American Progress. Both are also top allies of Hillary Clinton, as are a number of other people on Wednesday’s letter: Palmieri, Goff, and Reynolds were senior members of her campaign staff.

But Perriello has been eager to avoid comparisons to Clinton or Bernie Sanders after gaining support from many of her allies while hiring a Sanders campaign alum, Julia Barnes, to run his own bid. Instead, he is hoping to yoke himself to Obama. His team has compared the race to the 2008 primary between Obama and Clinton, casting Perriello as a young, liberal upstart alternative to an older, establishment-backed Northam.

Still, Perriello’s task is not a straightforward one: Neither Obama nor former Vice President Joe Biden or any other members of their Cabinet have endorsed him, and some of Northam’s endorsees — like Kaine, Obama’s former Democratic National Committee chairman — also are closely associated with the former president.

