Who Joe Biden is picking to fill his White House and Cabinet
The Post is tracking his picks and names floated for the most important positions in the executive branch
This page will continue to be updated with more positions and candidates.
One of President-elect Joe Biden’s very first tasks will be filling the top positions in his White House and Cabinet. In contrast to President Trump’s notably White and male Cabinet, Biden has promised to be “a president for all Americans” and build a Cabinet that reflects its diversity.
We’re tracking the people who Biden has already named and the top contenders for unfilled roles.
White House chief of staff
Currently: Mark Meadows
The chief of staff is often considered the president's gatekeeper, shaping their schedule and presidential access. They serve as a close adviser and also oversee White House staffing. This position does not require Senate confirmation.
Named
Ronald A. Klain
Biden's vice presidential chief of staff from 2009 to 2011
Klain was appointed by then-President Barack Obama to serve as the White House's "Ebola czar" to coordinate the administration's response to that epidemic and most recently was a senior adviser to the Biden campaign. He was also chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore.
Senior White House roles
Advisers and strategists play a key role in shaping the president's agenda. Under Trump, notable figures included Stephen Miller, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. These positions do not require Senate confirmation.[Biden builds White House team and tries to show dangers of Trump’s intransigence]
Named
Anthony Bernal
Senior adviser to Jill Biden
Bernal is a longtime adviser to Jill Biden, most recently serving as her deputy campaign manager and chief of staff. He began his White House career as part of the scheduling and advance teams during the Clinton years and served in multiple roles for the Obama White House.
Mike Donilon
Senior adviser to the president
Donilon is a veteran political strategist who has advised the president-elect for nearly four decades, including during Biden's previous stint in the Obama White House.
Jen O'Malley Dillon
Deputy chief of staff
O'Malley Dillon became Biden's campaign manager earlier this year, stepping onboard as the team retooled after struggling in the early nominating contests. A veteran of Barack Obama's 2012 reelection run, she managed former congressman Beto O'Rourke's unsuccessful Democratic presidential bid in 2019.
Dana Remus
Counsel to the president
Remus most recently worked as general counsel to Biden's presidential campaign. Under Obama, Remus was the deputy assistant to the president and deputy counsel for ethics. She went on to work for the Obama Foundation and for the Obamas' personal offices.
Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon
Chief of staff to Jill Biden
Reynoso is a former ambassador to Uruguay who served in the State Department under Obama. Before joining Biden's team, she was a partner at the law firm Winston & Strawn.
Steve Ricchetti
Counselor to the president
Ricchetti is one of Biden's most trusted strategists and served as his chief of staff when Biden was vice president. He was a liaison to the Senate under Bill Clinton. Outside of government service he worked as a registered lobbyist.
Rep. Cedric L. Richmond (D)
Senior adviser to the president
Richmond is one of Biden's most prominent African American allies and will also serve as Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. He was an early supporter of Biden who frequently campaigned for him and appeared on television on his behalf.
Julie Rodriguez
Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
Rodriguez was deputy campaign manager on Biden's presidential campaign. She joined from Harris's presidential campaign, whose Senate office she had previously worked for. She served as special assistant to the president during the Obama administration, as well as other roles in the White House and Interior Department.
Annie Tomasini
Director of Oval Office operations
Tomasini has served as Biden’s traveling chief of staff and worked with the Bidens for over a decade. Prior to that, she worked in public relations for Harvard University.
Biden’s White House picks include many who have come over from his campaign, along with longtime allies who have served him since at least his time as Vice President. Announcing Ronald A. Klain as his White House chief of staff, Biden wrote in a statement, “His deep, varied experience and capacity to work with people all across the political spectrum is precisely what I need in a White House chief of staff as we confront this moment of crisis and bring our country together again.”
In making his selections Biden is looking to appease factions of the Democratic Party from moderates to progressives and longtime allies to newer faces. These candidates will also require approval from a Republican Senate, unless Democrats can win two Senate race runoffs in early January.
Once confirmed, they will be instrumental in carrying out his goals and setting the tenor his presidency.
Jump to a position
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •Secretary of Agriculture
Currently: Sonny Perdue
The Trump administration has authorized tens of billions of dollars in direct payments to American ranchers and commodity row crop farmers. Federal payments to farmers hit a record $46 billion in 2020, with trade mitigation payments and pandemic relief flowing swiftly to President Trump’s rural base in the South and Midwest. Trump’s other signature USDA initiatives have been regulatory policies aimed at reducing the number of Americans eligible for food assistance. It is likely Biden would reverse erosions of SNAP and other food assistance programs, as well as restoring more rigorous school nutrition standards that were the centerpiece of Michelle Obama's Let's Move! effort. Biden has said he would support beginning farmers, pursue “smarter pro-worker and pro-family-farmer…policies,” and reward sustainable farming practices that reduce atmospheric carbon.
Potential picks
Rep. Cheri Bustos (D)
Congresswoman from Illinois
Bustos has privately signaled interest in the Agriculture position. A member of the House Agriculture Committee, Bustos led the House Democrats’ campaign arm in the 2020 cycle and oversaw the loss of a slew of Democratic seats that shrank their majority in the chamber. Bustos narrowly won reelection in her conservative Illinois district. A Bustos spokeswoman did not rule out an interest in a Cabinet post.
Rep. Marcia L. Fudge (D)
Congresswoman from Ohio
Fudge has served as the congresswoman for Ohio's 11th District since 2008, chairs the House Agriculture Nutrition, Oversight and Department Operations Subcommittee, and ranks fourth on the House Agriculture Committee. She has endorsed Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.) to be chair of the House Agriculture Committee and has repeatedly expressed interest in being agriculture secretary.
Heidi Heitkamp
Former senator from North Dakota
A former senator from North Dakota, Heitkamp was considered a top pick for the role of Secretary of Agriculture for Donald Trump in 2016, and she is once again considered so for Biden. Having served on the Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, she is popular with conventional farm groups and has spoken about fossil fuels playing a role in the clean energy revolution. Heitkamp started the One Country Project, a nonprofit to educate Democrats on how to appeal to voters in rural districts. She is backed by Biden’s agricultural adviser, former secretary Tom Vilsack.
Rep. Chellie Pingree (D)
Congresswoman from Maine
Progressives are urging Biden to choose Pingree, the organic farmer and House Agriculture Committee member from Maine who has introduced bills to decrease food waste, reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming and support small meat processors. In a role typically filled by someone from conventional agriculture in the Midwest’s Farm Belt, she would represent the concerns of small farmers.
Secretary of Commerce
Currently: Wilbur Ross
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross led the department to take an active role in President Trump’s trade wars. He championed an expansive interpretation of U.S. trade law, enabling Trump to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum in response to alleged national security threats. The so-called Section 232 tariffs were deeply controversial and alienated major U.S. trading partners, including Canada. Commerce also was a key player in the president’s confrontation with China. The department put prominent Chinese corporations such as Huawei on an export blacklist, all but severing them from critical American-made components, an important step toward decoupling the world’s two largest economies. The Biden administration is unlikely to immediately roll back the Trump tariffs. But the department may put a greater emphasis on export promotion and, through its management of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, take a more proactive stance on climate change. Commerce, customarily considered a business community outpost, is unlikely to be among the first department jobs filled and the ultimate pick may depend on the demographic and political makeup of the rest of the Cabinet.
Potential picks
Mellody Hobson
Co-CEO of Ariel Investments
A prominent African American business executive, Hobson could help Biden achieve his goal of leading a government that looks “like America.” But her ties to the financial services industry — she sits on the board of JPMorgan Chase — might irk progressives.
Terry McAuliffe
Former governor of Virginia and ex-chair of the Democratic National Committee
McAuliffe has long been seen as a potential commerce secretary, either in a potential Hillary Clinton administration in 2016 or under Biden. But he now is viewed as more likely to focus on running next year for a second, non-consecutive term as governor of the commonwealth.
Meg Whitman
Former CEO of Quibi
Whitman is a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for governor of California in 2010. She endorsed Biden in August and, if chosen, would give his Cabinet a bipartisan cast. She built eBay into a financial success and later oversaw Hewlett-Packard’s split into two standalone companies. But her involvement in this year’s stunning collapse of Quibi, a mobile streaming service that lasted six months, may have dulled her glossy résumé.
Secretary of Defense
Currently: Christopher C. Miller (acting)
A Biden presidency is expected to strike a relatively steady course at the Pentagon, seeking to restore stability in military decision-making while reemphasizing alliances and pressing ahead with efforts to respond to China’s rise. Analysts expect Biden to continue troop cuts in Afghanistan, where violence is surging as diplomats seek to advance peace talks. But while the Trump administration has sent mixed messages about whether it will withdraw all troops in coming months in line with a U.S.-Taliban deal, Biden’s campaign has suggested it would opt to leave a small force to counter al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. [Biden administration will seek to restore stability at Pentagon, analysts say]Promising a break with often chaotic foreign policy, the new administration is expected to strike a less adversarial stance against Iran, which Trump has depicted as a chief American adversary.
Potential picks
Michèle Flournoy
A former department official
Flournoy worked in the Defense Department under both Presidents Clinton and Obama, heading the department's policy operation during the Obama years. She was also considered for a senior role by Trump’s first defense secretary, Jim Mattis. If nominated, she's expected to easily be confirmed and would become the first woman to serve as Secretary of Defense.
Jeh Johnson
Former secretary of homeland security
A former homeland security secretary in the Obama administration, Johnson also served as the top lawyer in the Pentagon, and earlier in his legal career he worked as a federal prosecutor in New York City. Johnson’s name has also been mentioned as a possible pick for attorney general. If nominated and confirmed, he would be the first African American to head the Defense Department.
William McRaven
Retired Navy admiral
McRaven spent over three decades in the Navy. He served as head of Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014 and oversaw the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. McRaven has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.
Secretary of Education
Currently: Betsy Devos
Under Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Education Department has rolled back some civil rights protections as well as Obama-era efforts to hold for-profit colleges accountable for poor outcomes. She’s promoted alternatives to public schools and tried to slash federal funding for education. Biden is expected to reverse all of that, with more money for K-12 and higher education, new and revived civil rights protections and a focus on racial equity. [With DeVos out, Biden plans series of reversals on education]Biden has said he will name a public school educator as secretary of Education, a stab at DeVos, who had no experience with public schools. Many expect that to be someone from the K-12 world. Among those talked about for the job include a handful of big-city school superintendents, such as Sonja Santelises from Baltimore, Janice Jackson from Chicago or Seattle’s Denise Juneau.
Potential picks
Rep. Jahana Hayes (D)
Congresswoman from Connecticut
Hayes, elected in 2018, is the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress. She sits on the Committee on Education and Labor and has sponsored some higher education measures. Before that, she was the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.
Lily García
Former head of the National Education Association
García recently stepped down as president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest union. Before that, she was an elementary school teacher. She is friendly with incoming first lady Jill Biden, who is a community college teacher and member of the NEA.
Tony Thurmond
California state superintendent
Thurmond is California’s state superintendent, where he has pushed for educational equity, a goal Biden shares. In 2018, the Los Angeles Times endorsed Thurmond, saying he has “an unwavering commitment to at-risk students and a deep understanding of the obstacles they face.”
Randi Weingarten
Head of the American Federation of Teachers
Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teacher union. She previously served as president of the union representing teachers in New York City, and was a high school teacher in Brooklyn. Nominating a labor leader could be seen as an affront to those who favor teacher evaluations and other test-based accountability measures.
Secretary of Energy
Currently: Dan Brouillette
The Energy Department has been one of Trump's numerous fronts in rolling back environmental regulations. Under Biden, the department would likely move to tighten energy efficiency standards across industries and products and invest heavily in renewable energy. During the campaign, Biden introduced a $2 trillion plan to fight climate change that included pledges to eliminate carbon emissions from the electric sector by 2035, impose stricter gas mileage standards and fund investments to weatherize millions of homes and commercial buildings. [The Energy 202: Here are some of the contenders to become Biden's top environmental officials]
Potential picks
Arun Majumdar
Stanford University professor
A professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford, Majumdar served as the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. The office, which is an incubator for nascent energy technologies, has enjoyed bipartisan support in Congress, which may bode well for his chances of being confirmed by the Senate.
Ernest Moniz
Former secretary of energy
Known for his eye-catching hair, Obama's former energy secretary played an important role hammering out the details of the nuclear weapons deal with Iran. Though Trump abandoned the deal, Biden wants to rejoin it. A nuclear physicist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, he informally advised the Biden team during the campaign.
Dan Reicher
Stanford University scholar
Now at Stanford, Reicher has had several roles at the Energy Department, including chief of staff, assistant secretary at the energy efficiency and renewable energy office, and a member of Obama's Energy Department transition team. He also once led climate and alternative energy initiatives at Google and helped raise money for Biden during the campaign.
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall
Former deputy secretary of energy
This former deputy energy secretary under Obama was once a Rhodes Scholar and is now a professor at Georgia Tech. Under Bill Clinton, she also served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia.
Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Currently: Andrew Wheeler
Biden is planning for a complete reversal of recent federal environmental policy after the Trump administration undertook a dramatic rollback in environmental protections. Over 100 environmental safeguards were removed across the past four years. Biden plans to impose stricter environmental standards on industry, a job that would be overseen by his next EPA administrator.
Potential picks
Daniel Esty
Yale University professor
Though now an academic with appointments at Yale's forestry, law and business schools, Esty once served as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. There he helped launch a first-in-the-nation “green bank” for promoting clean energy. Biden has proposed creating a similar institution nationwide.
Heather McTeer Toney
National Field Director for Moms Clean Air Force
Besides running the EPA's Southeast office under Obama, she was also the first female and African-American mayor of Greenville, Miss. Now a senior director at the Moms Clean Air Force, she has spoken out against the Trump administration's rejection of stricter air quality standards during the pandemic in which the coronavirus attacks the lungs.
Mary Nichols
Chair of the California Air Resources Board
Over the past four years, the California Air Resources Board head has been central to the state's fight with the Trump administration over environmental rollbacks. When the EPA undid tougher air pollution rules for new cars implemented under President Barack Obama, Nichols helped forge an agreement with four major automakers to maintain the more-stringent standards in California. During her 13-year tenure running the California agency, she has helped put in place the state's cap-and-trade program for greenhouse gas emissions.
Collin O'Mara
CEO of the National Wildlife Federation
Unlike the leaders of other some environmental groups, O'Mara, head of the National Wildlife Federation, has worked with both Democrats and Republicans to advance habitat conservation efforts in Congress. He also, crucially, has ties to Biden's home state; O'Mara is said to have been the nation's youngest state Cabinet official in 2009 when he ran the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. That happens to be same Cabinet in which Biden's late son Beau served as attorney general.
Richard Revesz
New York University law professor
Revesz is considered one of the foremost legal minds in environmental law. Originally from Argentina, he has spent most of his career in academia. But he has managing experience, having served as dean of the NYU law school from 2002 to 2013.
Mustafa Santiago Ali
Vice President at the National Wildlife Federation
Also an executive at the National Wildlife Federation, Ali made headlines shortly after Trump took office for resigning from his post as an EPA assistant associate administrator. He left with more than two decades of experience at the EPA, having worked in both Democratic and Republican administrations and helped create the agency's environmental justice office in the early 1990s. Environmentalists say picking him makes sense for an administration aiming to tackle the disproportionate impact poor and minority communities face from air and water pollution.
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Currently: Alex Azar
The Department of Health and Human Services, one of the government’s largest, has been the Trump administration’s main vehicle to weaken the Affordable Care Act and shift health policy in a more conservative direction in other ways. The department has sought to let states require some people on Medicaid to work or prepare for jobs, a move blocked by the courts. It has restricted federal funding of research that uses human fetal tissue. Though a Republican Congress failed to repeal the ACA, HHS took many steps though executive action. It slashed funding to help boost enrollment in the insurance marketplaces created under the law, ended one type of subsidy for insurers, and widened the availability of inexpensive health plans that can bypass the law’s rules for insurance benefits and consumer protections. In contrast, the ACA is the basis of plans President-elect Biden has advocated for helping more Americans get affordable health coverage. He says that federal insurance subsidies should expand to help more middle-class families. He wants ACA health plans to be given to poor residents of a dozen states that have not expanded their Medicaid programs under the law. Biden also has proposed lowering from 65 years old to 60 the age for people to join Medicare, the vast federal insurance programs for older Americans. All these changes would require Congress to adopt them.
Potential picks
Mandy Cohen
Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Cohen is an alumna of the Obama administration, having been hired in 2013 as a senior adviser in HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and becoming the agency’s chief of staff. In 2017, she became North Carolina’s top health official. Since then, she has worked on plans to upgrade Medicaid — including by integrating physical and mental health care — and health conditions for young children. Cohen is trained as an internal medical physician and teaches in the department of health policy and management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Public Health.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
New Mexico governor
Grisham has been the governor of New Mexico since 2019. She also served in the U.S. House from the state's First District and as New Mexico secretary of health from 2004 to 2007. On Nov. 13, she ordered a statewide two-week shutdown to help bring coronavirus cases under control. She has won praise from many Democratic leaders for her health-care policy background and her handling of the state's coronavirus outbreak, and was the only Latina on Biden's shortlist of potential running mates over the summer.
Vivek Murthy
Former U.S. surgeon general
Murthy is co-chair of President-elect Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board and was one of the public health experts who briefed Biden frequently about the pandemic during the campaign. Murthy became the 19th U.S. surgeon general at the end of 2014, slightly more than a year after his nomination by President Barack Obama. His nomination had been held up in the Senate for just over a year, largely because of his view that gun violence poses a public health threat. During his tenure, he issued a landmark report on drug and alcohol addiction, calling it “a moral test for America,” and placing it among reports his predecessors had produced to draw attention to other major public health threats, such as tobacco use, AIDS, the need for physical activity. Since leaving the government, he has written and spoken out about loneliness. He was a vice admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service’s commissioned corps and is trained in internal medicine.
Secretary of Homeland Security
Currently: Chad Wolf (acting)
Under President Trump, the Department of Homeland Security’s focus shifted notably from counterterrorism to immigration and border enforcement. Trump turned the nation’s third-largest federal entity into a powerful tool of domestic policy and electoral politics, using DHS to carry out a wide-ranging immigration crackdown and quell street protests in American cities. Created after the Sept. 11 attacks to reassure the American public and project stability, DHS went through unprecedented leadership turmoil under Trump, with five secretaries in four years. Biden is expected to try to stabilize the department by returning its focus to a broad range of threats, including counterterrorism, cyber threats and the pandemic response.
Potential picks
Rep. Val Demings (D)
Congresswoman from Florida
Demings, a career police officer and former chief of the Orlando Police Department elected to Congress in 2017, was occasionally mentioned as a possible vice-presidential pick for Biden. Choosing her for the DHS secretary job could help assure some rank-and-file federal officers and agents worried that the new administration will sideline the big DHS enforcement agencies – such as U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – which Trump claimed were “his people.”
Alejandro Mayorkas
Former Obama immigration and homeland security official
Mayorkas is widely considered the leading candidate for the top job at DHS. Currently an attorney at the D.C. law firm WilmerHale, Mayorkas served as director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during President Obama’s first term, and was promoted to DHS deputy secretary under Jeh Johnson for Obama’s second term. Born in Cuba and raised mostly in Los Angeles, Mayorkas’s experience navigating the politics of immigration enforcement and border security could be an asset to Biden if the issue remains a topic of intense partisan focus. Mayorkas’s nomination could run into trouble over a 2015 report by the DHS inspector general faulting him for inappropriately helping several companies obtain employment visas. Mayorkas refuted those findings.
Lisa Monaco
Former White House homeland security adviser
Monaco is a former federal prosecutor who served as White House homeland security adviser during President Obama’s second term. Picking her for the DHS secretary job would allow the president-elect to send a clear signal about shifting the department’s focus back to counterterrorism and domestic violent extremism. Monaco has been an adviser to the Biden campaign.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Currently: Ben Carson
Under the Trump administration, the agency gutted Obama-era fair lending and fair housing laws. The new secretary is expected to restore these laws and be a key player in carrying out Biden's campaign promises to expand affordable housing, increase the availability of Section 8 vouchers and tackle racial bias in housing.
Potential picks
Rep. Karen Bass (D)
Congresswoman from California
Bass is a fifth-term California congresswoman representing south Los Angeles. She currently heads the Congressional Black Caucus and serves on the House Committee of Foreign Affairs.
Keisha Lance Bottoms
Atlanta mayor
Bottoms was an early supporter of Biden's 2020 presidential run and served as a surrogate for him on the trail. She was elected mayor of Atlanta in 2017 after serving on city council for eight years. Before joining Atlanta politics, she was a prosecutor and magistrate judge.
Alvin Brown
Former Jacksonville mayor
Brown served in various roles during the Clinton administration across the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development, including as adviser to then-secretary Andrew Cuomo. Most recently Brown was a staffer on the Biden campaign.
Maurice Jones
CEO of Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Jones served as the deputy undersecretary of HUD from 2012 to 2014 and as Virginia's commerce secretary under Gov. Terry McAuliffe. He currently runs Local Initiatives Support Corporation, which offers community development loans, grants and investments.
Diane Yentel
CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition
Yentel served as director of the public housing management and occupancy division at HUD during the Obama administration. She currently leads the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an affordable housing advocacy group, and has been an outspoken critic of Trump's HUD.
Secretary of Interior
Currently: David Bernhardt
Under Trump, the Interior Department opened public lands and waters, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, for fossil fuel extraction and logging. Biden pledges to reverse those efforts, aiming to restrict fossil fuel exploration on public lands and waters and expand conservation efforts.
Potential picks
Michael L. Connor
Former Interior deputy secretary
Connor was deputy secretary at Interior from 2014 to 2017 and also worked in the department during the Clinton years. He served as counsel to the Senate committee on energy and natural resources during the Bush administration. Connor is currently a partner at the law firm WilmerHale.
Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D)
Congressman from Arizona
Grijalva has been in Congress for more than 15 years and currently chairs the House Natural Resources Committee. He has been critical of how both the Bush and Trump administrations managed public land and opened access to the private sector.
Rep. Deb Haaland (D)
Congresswoman from New Mexico
Of the New Mexicans being considered for the job, the congresswomen from the state's 1st Congressional District has the least experience in Congress, being first elected in 2018. But picking her would be historic. Haaland, an enrolled member of the Pueblo of Laguna, would be the first Native American to run the department charged with overseeing federal and tribal lands.
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D)
Senator from New Mexico
A member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, New Mexico's other senator is also a proponent of clean energy and public land protections. One complicating factor for any of the state's Cabinet hopefuls: If New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) becomes health and human services secretary, that might give Biden's team pause about elevating another New Mexican to the Cabinet.
Sen. Tom Udall (D)
Senator from New Mexico
The senator from New Mexico is retiring from Congress his year, but has said he would consider joining the Biden administration. In recent years, Udall has been a loud advocate for conserving 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by the end of the decade and funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The choice would also be a nostalgic one; his father, Stewart Udall, was secretary of the department from 1961 to 1969 under two Democratic presidents.
Attorney General, Department of Justice
Currently: William Barr
The Justice Department in the Trump administration most notably drew criticism for its leaders apparently bending to political pressure from Trump and getting involved in criminal cases involving the president's friends. Biden's Justice Department would probably seek to change that, restoring the department's historic independence on criminal matters. Biden's Justice Department also is likely to focus more on forcing reforms at police departments through court and other actions. The Justice Department in the Trump administration had largely abandoned those efforts, positioning itself as defending the police from unfair criticism.
Potential picks
Xavier Becerra
California’s attorney general
Becerra is a former congressman who is now the attorney general for the state of California. He has drawn attention recently for the myriad of lawsuits he has brought against the Trump administration.
Jeh Johnson
Former homeland security secretary
A former homeland security secretary in the Obama administration, Johnson also served as the top lawyer in the Pentagon, and earlier in his legal career he worked as a federal prosecutor in New York City. Johnson’s name has also been mentioned as a possible pick for defense secretary.
Sen. Doug Jones (D)
Senator from Alabama
Jones is a former U.S. attorney who won a special election to replace Jeff Sessions as the U.S. senator from Alabama after Trump named Sessions his attorney general. Jones recently lost his race to hold the seat to retired football coach Tommy Tuberville.
Sally Yates
Former Justice Department official
Yates is a former U.S. attorney who served as deputy attorney general at the end of the Obama administration and as the acting attorney general briefly after Trump took office. She was fired from her position for refusing to defend Trump's travel ban.
Secretary of Labor
Currently: Eugene Scalia
Under Trump, the Department of Labor has taken a largely employer and industry friendly approach that has frustrated worker advocates, labor unions, and Democrats, and drawn particularly vocal outcry during the pandemic.
The DOL passed rules that exempted large numbers of workers from the paid sick leave requirements in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, and issued strict guidelines for unemployment insurance payouts to gig and self-employed workers that many saw as restrictive.
Its workplace safety division, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has declined to institute ironclad safety standards for the coronavirus, issuing only recommendations for employers instead of an enforceable set of rules.
Before the pandemic, the Department took moves to restrict the ability of workers told hold joint employers accountable for wage and hour violations, and reduced the number of workers who were eligible for mandatory overtime payments.
Potential picks
Sharon Block
Director, Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School
Block, a labor official in the Obama administration and current director of the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School, co-wrote a widely touted report released at the beginning of this year that called for a bold overhaul of the country’s outdated labor laws.
Seth Harris
Former deputy labor secretary
Harris, a deputy labor secretary under President Barack Obama, wrote a paper in 2015 arguing that gig workers should not be entitled to the full benefits and protections afforded to regular employees, an issue that is likely to dominate labor debates in the coming years.
Rep. Andy Levin (D)
Congressman from Michigan
The Democratic congressman from Michigan has union ties that run deep: He worked as an organizer for the SEIU in the 1980s and later held a leadership position at the AFL-CIO. He is earning praise from some unions and others who want the department to have a strong pro-labor bent.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (D)
Senator from Vermont and former presidential candidate
The former presidential candidate and de facto leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party keeps popping up in media speculation about who will lead the Labor Department.
Julie Su
Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency
Su has been a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant recipient and hailed for her work on labor issues in the state.
Marty Walsh
Boston mayor
Walsh, who got his union card in 1988 when he joined Laborers Local 223, has a long history in organized labor, most recently as the head of Boston Building Trades before he became mayor. He reportedly has a strong relationship with Joe Biden.
Secretary of State
Currently: Mike Pompeo
In the Trump administration, scores of veteran diplomats left after their loyalty to Trump was questioned and career employees were replaced by political appointees. Under Biden, the State Department is expected to be at the forefront of reversing some key Trump-era policies and restoring the centrality of diplomacy in foreign policy and battered U.S. credibility. Priorities include rebuilding strained alliances with Europe, returning to a more balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, corralling global efforts to combat climate change and possibly changing course with Iran if the U.S. re-enters the nuclear treaty Trump abandoned. They also are expected to maintain pressure on China over human rights and trade issues.
Potential picks
Antony Blinken
Longtime Biden foreign policy aide
Blinken is a longtime Biden confident and former deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration from 2015 to 2017. Blinken has decades of experience in Congress and worked closely with then-Vice President Biden as deputy national security adviser from 2013 to 2015.
William Burns
Former diplomat and State Department official
Burns is a legendary former diplomat who held numerous senior positions over 33 years at the State Department. He attained the highest rank in the Foreign Service, career ambassador. He was ambassador to Russia and Jordan, and deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration. He speaks Russian, Arabic and French. Since retiring from the State Department in 2014, he has been president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D)
Senator from Delaware
Coons is a Democratic senator from Delaware who holds Biden’s old seat. A prominent member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Coons was a co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Human Rights Caucus. He has a strong interest in Africa, where the population is projected to double by 2050.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D)
Senator from Connecticut
Murphy is the junior U.S. senator from Connecticut and an outspoken member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee focusing on the Middle East and South Asia. He was elected to the Senate in 2013 after serving in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013.
Susan E. Rice
Former national security adviser
Rice worked closely with Biden during her time as President Obama’s national security adviser from 2013 to 2017. Prior to her job in the White House, she served as U.N. ambassador from 2009 to 2013 and worked in the State Department during the Clinton administration.
Secretary of Transportation
Currently: Elaine Chao
The Trump administration issued a set of weaker carbon dioxide emissions standards for cars and SUVs and took a largely hands off approach to dealing with new technologies like automated vehicles. The fight against climate change will shape the Biden administration’s transportation policies. It is expected to stiffen emissions standards once again, and promote the adoption of electric vehicles. A grand bargain in Congress on infrastructure spending eluded the Trump administration, and reaching a spending deal to repair road and bridges and expand access to transit is expected to be another major focus for the new administration.
Potential picks
Eric Garcetti
Los Angeles mayor
Garcetti has been the mayor of Los Angeles since 2013 and served as a co-chair of President-Elect Biden’s campaign. In LA, he has overseen an expansion of the notoriously gridlocked city’s metro system.
Secretary of Treasury
Currently: Steve Mnuchin
The Biden administration is expected to prioritize a massive stimulus package to shore up the economy’s shaky recovery. Biden also campaigned on tax increases for businesses and some of the wealthiest Americans — issues that the next secretary will have to pursue. [With pick for treasury secretary, Biden will tip hand about his economic agenda]
Potential picks
Lael Brainard
Federal Reserve governor
Brainard is a Federal Reserve governor who served as a senior Treasury Department official in the Obama administration. She has broad policymaking experience, particularly during economic crises, as well as wide respect among international foreign ministries and central banks from her time as the department’s top diplomat. If nominated and approved, she would be the first female Treasury secretary.
Roger Ferguson
Former vice chair of the Federal Reserve
Ferguson is currently the president and CEO of TIAA-CREF and on the board of corporations including Alphabet and General Mills. He was vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and a governor on the board under the Clinton administation. Under Obama, he served on the Jobs and Competitiveness and the Economic Recovery Advisory Board. If nominated and approved, he would be the first African American to serve as secretary.
Janet Yellen
Former chair of the Federal Reserve
Yellen was a Federal Reserve governor under both the Clinton and Obama administrations. She was the first female chair of the Fed, serving from 2014 to 2018. Yellen's term as chair was marked by lowering unemployment, record highs in the stock market and low inflation. Despite this, she was the first Fed chair not to be reappointed after serving a first full term. If nominated and approved, she would be the first female Treasury secretary.
White House press secretary
Currently: Kayleigh McEnany
The press secretary is the mouthpiece of the administration, interacting with the media and the White House press corps to deliver the administration's updates and perspectives. This position does not require Senate confirmation.
Potential picks
Kate Bedingfield
Biden's deputy campaign manager and communications director
Bedingfield was deputy campaign manager and a frequent spokesperson for Biden's presidential campaign. She was appointed communications director for Biden in 2015. Under the Obama administration she also served as deputy director of media affairs and the director of response. After the 2016 election, she worked in communications for the entertainment and sports industry.
Symone Sanders
Senior adviser to Biden’s campaign
Before joining the Biden campaign, Sanders was a political analyst and commentator. She served as national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders's 2016 presidential run. She would be the first African American to hold the job.