Top Mark Warner Aide to Be Raimondo’s Chief of Staff at Commerce

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - JANUARY 08: Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo delivers remarks after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden announced her as his Commerce Secretary nominee at The Queen theater on January 08, 2021 in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden announced he is nominating Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo as his commerce secretary, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh his labor secretary and Isabel Guzman, a former Obama administration official, as head of the Small Business Administration. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

(Bloomberg) -- Mike Harney, a top Senate aide and Obama administration veteran, has been chosen to be chief of staff to Commerce Secretary-designate Gina Raimondo, according to people familiar with the matter.

Harney most recently was the chief of staff to Virginia Senator Mark Warner, a close congressional ally of President Joe Biden.

In the second term of the Obama administration Harney served as assistant U.S. trade representative for congressional affairs, where his job included engagement with members of Congress on trade negotiations -- including the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. The trade deal was never submitted for congressional approval and then-President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the agreement on his third day in office.

Harney and White House press officials did not respond to a request for comment.

A confirmation hearing for Raimondo, the governor of Rhode Island, is set for Jan. 26 before the Senate Commerce Committee.