Presidential Transition
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Presidential Transition

For nearly 250 years, the peaceful transfer of power has been a hallmark of American democracy and central to the continuity of government. The United States’ ability to address its most critical challenges rely on this tradition to continue.

Yet executing a successful presidential transition, or the start of a second term, requires serious planning and requires extensive knowledge of federal personnel, policy and budgeting issues. Handled poorly, both first- and second-term presidents can struggle to implement campaign promises and respond to serious national security and domestic challenges.

Since 2008, the Partnership has been the nation’s leading nonpartisan organization that works with federal agency leaders, presidential candidate transition teams, outgoing presidents and those seeking a second term to ensure that our next president is fully prepared to govern.

Center for Presidential Transition®

The Partnership for Public Service’s Center for Presidential Transition® is the nation’s premier nonpartisan source of information and resources designed to help presidential candidates and their teams lay the groundwork for a new administration and incumbent presidents prepare for a second term.

The Center assists presidential candidates, the incumbent administration and agencies with transition or second-term planning, prepares political appointees to succeed, advocates for legislative reform and shapes the national conversation on transition issues.  

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Political Appointee is sworn in

Ready to Govern®

Ready to Govern® is a series of 90-minute onboarding sessions designed to help incoming political appointees and federal leaders navigate a complex federal organization and succeed in their new roles.

Appointees can participate in up to 11 modules featuring proven content developed from hundreds of conversations with federal leaders. These sessions are led by bipartisan faculty comprised of current or former political appointees and career executives.

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Ready to Serve

Our Ready to Serve resources give aspiring political appointees the information and tools needed to navigate the federal appointments process. We help prospective appointees learn about possible roles, background checks, ethics requirements, and, for the most senior-level positions, the Senate confirmation process.

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Ready to Act

The time before and after a presidential election typically brings shifts in agency dynamics and personnel. Career civil servants must work to support the continuity of government and some senior career executives will be called on to serve temporarily in key positions previously held by political appointees to ensure that agency priorities are met.

For senior career executives stepping in to serve as acting officials during a transition of leadership or administration, the Partnership for Public Service offers Ready to Act. This 90-minute seminar is designed to help leaders prepare for and understand what to expect in their temporary new roles.

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US President Joe Biden arrives to swears in presidential appointees during a virtual ceremony in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, after being sworn in at the US Capitol on January 20, 2021. (Getty)

Political Appointee Tracker

Presidents are required to fill roughly 4,000 politically appointed government positions, including more than 1,200 jobs that require Senate confirmation. Despite the importance of these jobs, there is no up-to-date source of information about who holds these positions, which jobs are vacant or the status of Senate confirmations.

The Political Appointee tracker, run by the Partnership and The Washington Post, addresses this problem, shedding light on our government’s growing struggle—regardless of which party controls Congress and the White House—to fill key Senate-confirmed positions.

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Transition Lab

Our “Transition Lab” podcast offers listeners an in-depth look at presidential transitions, exploring how transfers of power occur, current and past transition cycles, and the relationship between the handoff of presidential power and our democracy.

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Advisory Board

The Center for Presidential Transition® Advisory Board is composed of a bipartisan group of transition experts who have worked for five different administrations or presidential candidates. The board helps to develop, shape and refine our plans to enable the smooth transfer of power or start of a second term.    

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