Daniel Koh

Dan Koh
File:Daniel Koh, White House Deputy Cabinet Secretary.jpg Official portrait, 2021
Personal details
Born	Daniel Arrigg Koh (1985-01-01) January 1, 1985
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Amy Sennett ​ (m. 2016)​
Children	2
Relatives	Howard Koh (father) Harold Koh (uncle)
Education	Harvard University (BA, MBA)

Daniel Arrigg Koh (born January 1, 1985) is an American politician. Koh was Deputy Assistant to President Joe Biden and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Early life and education

Koh was born to doctors Howard K. Koh and Claudia A. Arrigg, the middle of three children. His father later served as United States Assistant Secretary for Health for President Barack Obama. Koh's mother is the granddaughter of Lebanese emigrants who arrived in Lawrence, Massachusetts in the 1890s. His uncle, Harold Hongju Koh, was Dean of Yale Law School and a Legal Adviser of the Department of State.

Koh and his two siblings graduated from Phillips Academy, where their mother attended and serves as an Alumni Trustee. He earned a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Career

At the age of 29, Koh became chief of staff to Boston Mayor Marty Walsh after a stint as chief of staff for Arianna Huffington. Koh was featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 and the Boston Business Journal 40 Under 40.

Biden Administration

In 2021, Koh was named Chief of Staff to the United States Secretary of Labor, Marty Walsh. Later, he served as Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Cabinet Secretary at the White House. He concluded his service as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.

Political campaigns

2018 congressional campaign

In 2018, Koh announced he would be running for Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district. Koh eventually lost the Democratic primary to Lori Trahan by 145 votes, receiving 18,435 votes to Trahan's 18,580 votes.

Local government

In 2019, Koh was elected to the Board of Selectmen in Andover, Massachusetts. As the top vote getter, Koh received 2,733 votes He resigned from the Board of Selectmen in February 2021 to join the Biden Administration.

In 2021, Koh was seen as a potential candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in the 2022 Massachusetts gubernatorial election. Koh did not run and Kim Driscoll was ultimately elected lieutenant governor.

Personal life

Koh is married to Amy Sennett, a Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School and General Counsel at micro1. They met at Harvard, where Koh was pursuing an MBA and Sennett a JD/MBA. The couple eloped in 2016 at Boston City Hall, where Koh's boss, Mayor Marty Walsh officiated. A religious ceremony was held the following month.

Koh's older brother Steven is the R. Gordon Butler Scholar of International Law at Boston University School of Law and his sister Katherine is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Koh has suffered long-term tribulations with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting emotional behavior.

Electoral history

Massachusetts' 3rd congressional district Democratic primary, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lori Trahan	18,527	21.6
	Democratic	Daniel Koh	18,405	21.5
	Democratic	Barbara L'Italien	13,029	15.2
	Democratic	Juana Matias	12,982	15.1
	Democratic	Rufus Gifford	12,856	15.1
	Democratic	Alexandra Chandler	4,848	5.7
	Democratic	Beej Das	1,496	1.7
	Democratic	Jeffrey Ballinger	1,388	1.6
	Democratic	Bopha Malone	1,344	1.6
	Democratic	Leonard Golder	585	0.7
	Democratic	write-ins	131	0.2
Total votes			88,818	100.0