Experts

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Practitioner Senior Fellow
TenpasVitaSEPT2020.pdf

Fast Facts

  • Director of the Katzmann Initiative and visiting fellow with Governance Studies, the Brookings Institution
  • Advisory board member, White House Transition Project
  • Fellow, Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service

Areas Of Expertise

  • The First Year
  • Governance
  • Elections
  • Leadership
  • Politics
  • The Presidency

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas is director of the Katzmann Initiative and a visiting fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, advisory board member of the White House Transition Project, and a fellow with the Center for Presidential Transition at the Partnership for Public Service.

Tenpas is a scholar of the American presidency focusing on White House staffing, presidential transitions, and the intersection of politics and policy within the presidency (e.g., presidential reelection campaigns, trends in presidential travel, and polling). She has authored the book Presidents as Candidates: Inside the White House for the Presidential Campaign and published more than 60 articles, book chapters, and papers on these topics.

Tenpas earned her BA degree from Georgetown University and her MA and PhD degrees from the University of Virginia.

Featured Publications

Presidents as Candidates
Presidents as Candidates

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas

Kathryn Dunn Tenpas News Feed

Axios
Biden's second-year turnover problem
"Turnover is going to be high in year three," Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, who authored the Brookings report, tells Axios.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Axios
NBC News
Biden's Cabinet is sticking around, bucking the turnover trend of his predecessors
The absence of turnover among the Biden appointees — whose jobs include stopping crime, keeping food safe and guarding against attack — is a rarity. Since Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, only Barack Obama had no one from the Cabinet step down by the midpoint of his first term, said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at the Miller Center, a think tank on the presidency at the University of Virginia.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas NBC News
Newsweek
Why Ron Klain's Exit as Chief of Staff is a 'Huge Loss' for Joe Biden
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, told The Times that finding a suitable replacement for Klain "will not be easy and may well be impossible" due to his skill set and track record. "They are headed into a re-election campaign that also increases Ron's value in that he has campaign experience and political skills," Tenpas said. "In addition, the chief of staff's Capitol Hill experience could come in handy as they confront divided government."
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Newsweek
NYT
Ron Klain Expected to Step Down as Biden’s White House Chief of Staff
“He is a truly unique chief of staff,” said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution who studies administration personnel. Mr. Klain’s broad experience in multiple administrations as well as on Capitol Hill, his reputation for managing tough political challenges and his long history with Mr. Biden made him the most important figure in the White House besides the president.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas The New York Times
WSJ
Biden’s Cabinet Expected to Stay in Place for Now as Campaign Nears
“It’s surprising because with each passing administration there’s heightened media scrutiny and opportunities for personal scandals” that could lead to cabinet resignations, said Kathryn Dunn Tenpas, a senior fellow at Brookings who studies the White House. “But it has been a pretty low-key cabinet.”
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas The Wall Street Journal
Brookings
The Biden “A-Team” after 24 months: A significant uptick in year two departures
After a highly stable first year in office, the Biden administration experienced a substantial increase in senior staff turnover. The significant uptick in “A-Team” departures moved from five individuals departing in year one to 21 in year two.
Kathryn Dunn Tenpas Brookings