Nashville mayor taps former Biden aide TJ Ducklo for top communications job

After several notable departures from his administration, Nashville Mayor John Cooper is tapping a former White House aide for the city's top communication job.

Former White House Deputy Press Secretary TJ Ducklo will join Cooper's administration as chief communications officer and senior adviser next month. 

The 33-year-old Nashville native will oversee the administration's communications team and advise Cooper on political and strategic decisions. He recently began working with the team part-time and will transition to his full-time role on April 25.

"I care a lot about Nashville," Ducklo told The Tennessean Wednesday. "I care a lot about the people who live there, and I am excited to get back to working directly on the issues that affect people's lives."

Ducklo, a former senior communication director at NBC News, joined President Joe Biden's Democratic primary campaign in 2019. He served as national press secretary for Biden's 2020 general election campaign before joining the White House as deputy press secretary, all while undergoing treatment for stage 4 lung cancer.

He resigned less than one month into Biden’s administration after the White House suspended him for threatening a Politico journalist seeking to cover his relationship with an Axios reporter. The Axios reporter had covered Biden's presidential campaign and transition, which raised a potential conflict of interest.

The fallout originated from a Vanity Fair story detailing Ducklo's attempt to suppress a story by telling the Politico journalist, “I will destroy you.”

Ducklo said he was “devastated to have embarrassed and disappointed my White House colleagues and President Biden” in a statement following his resignation.

"All I can do is what I've tried to do since last year, which is show people who I really am and ask for forgiveness and a little grace, and move forward," Ducklo said. 

Ducklo is the latest of several new hires

Over the last year, Ducklo has worked in the private sector at a public relations firm in New York. 

"TJ has a strong sense of how policy isn't just something you read about on paper, that it's really very much about how it affects people's everyday lives," said Anita Dunn, a former White House senior adviser for Biden's administration.

Dunn worked with Ducklo during Biden's campaign and the administration's early days.

"He was constantly challenging us to figure out how we could communicate then-candidate Biden's policy objectives and how they would translate into people's lives," Dunn said.

More:Nashville Mayor John Cooper's top aide to step down, two replacements tapped

Cooper's former spokesperson Andrea Fanta recently returned to her role as the Nashville Public Library's head of marketing and communications. Multiple top advisers have left Cooper's office over the last year, and Ducklo is the latest of several new hires. His new role comes with a $135,000 annual salary.

Deputy Mayor for Policy and Innovation Sam Wilcox and Chief of Staff Jennifer Rasmussen-Sagan joined the administration in late February after former Deputy Mayor and Chief of Staff Bill Phillips stepped down from the role. Phillips now serves as a special counselor to the mayor part time.

"(Ducklo) has built a reputation as a skilled and talented communicator at the highest levels of media and politics, crisscrossing the country to help elect the president while facing a tough personal battle with cancer," Cooper said in a statement to The Tennessean.

Ducklo said he is grateful that his cancer treatment has continued to work, and he's now about 26 months in remission.

"As long as it's working, I want to keep powering ahead," he said.

Lisa Quigley, former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, has known Ducklo for many years in the professional realm in addition to getting to know him and his family while Ducklo attended the University School of Nashville.

"It's hard to find somebody better than someone like TJ who grew up in Nashville and is a keen observer of what's been happening in the city, and I think he's going to be able to give the mayor really good advice about how to navigate things," Quigley said.

Ducklo said he is looking forward to working with Cooper as the mayor moves forward with his policy goals, including investments in education, affordable housing, transportation and safety.

"It's easy to forget just how much has been put on the mayor's plate shortly after he took over the city," Ducklo said, referencing Nashville's string of recent natural disasters and the bombing on Second Avenue.

"I think he's been a steady force and a steady leader through those crises," Ducklo said. "Now we have this opportunity to start advancing some of the issues ... in a more robust way, and telling our story in more creative ways."

USA Today White House correspondent Joey Garrison contributed.

Reach Metro government reporter Cassandra Stephenson at ckstephenson@tennessean.com. Follow Cassandra on Twitter at @CStephenson731.