“Having smart progressive people in place at the start of the next administration is going to be key to grappling with the chaos caused by the coronavirus recession," said Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president at the watchdog group Public Citizen. "We need bold ideas and personnel without connections to Wall Street in place at financial agencies like the SEC, [the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau] and Treasury who are ready to move us aggressively.”

The debate is a window into the kinds of messy Senate confirmation battles that progressive activists, bank lobbyists and analysts see coming with different wings of the party at odds over Biden's personnel picks. Biden not only faces pressure to balance moderate and progressive appointments but also to make racial diversity a priority in high-level administration posts.

Those looming disagreements underscore the concern felt by many in the party that implementing major economic reforms and cracking down on Wall Street would be a heavy lift for Democrats even if they control Washington. The stakes are high for big banks, private equity firms and other financial titans that have benefited from deregulation under President Donald Trump.

The conflict was crystallized in the past two years, as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and other progressive members of the so-called Squad irked some centrist Democrats with their sweeping demands for a Green New Deal and Medicare for All.

"The progressive Congresswomen of the 'The Squad' were an integral part of this Congress," said Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research at Compass Point Research & Trading. "But it may be a group of centrist Democratic senators – the 'Mod Squad' if you will – who could come to define what is possible if we see a Blue Wave next year."

The tension means that Biden will likely have to balance his slate of appointees to satisfy competing wings of the party. Paul Thornell, a lobbyist who previously served as an aide in Senate Democratic leadership and to former Vice President Al Gore, said Biden hasn't been shy about reminding people that "he’s not the far left.”

"On the econ side, positions that are more notable – Treasury, head of the National Economic Council, and some of the regulatory appointments – I would imagine are probably going to be more establishment, middle-of-the-road types," he said. "Then you might see somebody tapped for the SEC who more self-identifies as from the progressive left. There’s going to be that mix.”

For progressive activists who have long championed the mantra that "personnel is policy," this is a critical moment to avert a repeat of what they saw as a restrained approach under the Obama administration after the 2008 financial crisis, when many wanted a greater focus on rescuing homeowners rather than Wall Street. Recruiting from the Warren wing of the party -- including individuals who developed their policy chops in the wake of that crisis -- is central to keeping big business in check and addressing inequality head-on, they say.

Biden has not announced any executive branch appointments but has a transition team that's been operating for months. It includes liberal allies such as Julie Siegel, another former Warren aide who's seen as a potential hire in a Biden administration.

The progressive wishlist of potential appointees includes individuals seen as qualified for a range of Biden administration posts, such as at Treasury, the National Economic Council, the consumer bureau and other financial regulatory agencies.

Some of the positions, including those at the White House and in the mid-level ranks of the Treasury Department, don't require Senate confirmation and could be filled quickly if Biden wins.

The CFPB, the consumer watchdog agency that was Warren's brainchild, is seen as a likely landing spot for someone in her orbit.

Porter and Ramamurti have been floated as potential CFPB directors, as has Federal Trade Commissioner Rohit Chopra, another Warren ally who was an early hire when the consumer bureau was formed. At the FTC, Chopra has called for tougher penalties for technology companies that harm consumers.

Porter, who in 2018 flipped a GOP-held House seat in California, studied under Warren and has continued to team up with her former professor in Congress. Porter has attracted a massive following for her fierce questioning of industry executives and Trump appointees during hearings. (A favorite technique of hers is trying to show that administration officials don't understand their own jobs).

While progressives would cheer her appointment to the CFPB, it's unclear if she's ready to leave Congress. She has left open the possibility that she would accept an appointment to fill Sen. Kamala Harris's Senate office if Harris becomes Biden's vice president.

Porter declined to comment for this story as did the other possible appointees. Warren and Brown also wouldn't comment.

Ramamurti was a banking and economic policy aide to Warren in her Senate office before joining her presidential campaign in 2019. In April, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) appointed Ramamurti to serve on the Congressional Oversight Commission, which is tasked with investigating the coronavirus bailout. He has argued that the relief efforts have fallen short of what's needed to support the economy.

People familiar with Ramamurti's work in the Senate said one of the factors aiding a potential nomination would be his relationships with moderate Democrats. Milan Dalal, former senior economic adviser to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and co-founder of government relations firm Tiger Hill Partners, said Ramamurti "made genuine attempts to find common ground with nearly every office, regardless of party, on the Banking Committee." Last month, former Clinton and Obama NEC Director Gene Sperling said in a Harvard Magazine story that Ramamurti was "“one of the smartest economic aides on Capitol Hill."

Outside of the Warren network, Democrats also point to alumni of Brown's Senate Banking Committee staff, including Steele and Fischer.

Steele, now director of the Corporations and Society Initiative at Stanford Graduate School of Business, was part of an outside group of economic advisers charged with developing policy positions for Biden. As an aide to Brown, he worked on unsuccessful legislation with then-Sen. Ted Kaufman -- now a key figure in Biden transition's team -- to break up big banks after the 2008 crisis.

Fischer is policy director at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, where she has warned that the U.S. lacks the financial infrastructure to support workers and businesses during crises like the pandemic. Heather Boushey, who heads the think tank, has been a prominent outside adviser to the Biden campaign. Fischer also served as Porter's chief of staff.

Ty Gellasch, a one-time aide to former Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), said Steele and Fischer "were uniquely shaped by the failures of the financial regulatory reform efforts following the last crisis."

“With Graham and Amanda," he said, "You have people who were not just familiar with the last crisis but who have a very, very intimate knowledge of how the regulatory process can work from Congress to implementation and where discretion falls apart and what that would mean to the ultimate outcome."

That inside knowledge and a willingness to act on it are selling points for progressive activists -- and may spook businesses that fear government scrutiny.

"There are a lot of Democrats who think they can't do much with their jobs," said Jeff Hauser, who scrutinizes executive branch appointees as executive director of the Revolving Door Project. "It's a lot better to have people who think their jobs have real power."

The names being tossed around are "all people who think there are levers available in the executive branch to address real crises,” said Hauser.

But whether they would be embraced by more business-friendly centrist Democrats is "an open question," Hauser said.