US: Harris administration plans to include Obama allies, focus on diversity if wins election

If Joe Biden‘s pick, Kamala Harris, wins the election, she will likely staff her staff with her closest advisers as well as key cabinet members.

Regardless of whether Democrats retain power in the Senate or Republicans take it, 59-year-old Harris will have to figure out which people to keep from the Biden administration.

Unlike the outgoing U.S. president, the former attorney general does not have a long career in the White House.

As US vice president, she relied on a small group of Biden’s trusted associates for advice, as well as top party officials, many of whom are in the Barack Obama wing. After four years as vice president, dozens of former Harris staffers are scattered around Washington, involved in other executive agencies as well as on Capitol Hill.

As with most modern Democratic transitions, Harris and her team will try to send a message with her choices by ensuring that a future cabinet will demonstrate her commitment to diversity – racially, geographically and politically.

Kamala has promised that one difference with Biden would be that she would appoint at least one Republican to her cabinet, according to Politico.

For Harris, who has yet to separate her foreign policy agenda from that of outgoing President Biden, the choice of person for that portfolio will be a complete unknown.

If elected, the decision to appoint a new secretary of state will come at a critical time as Harris tries to deal with the crisis in the Middle East, Russia’s aggression in Europe as well as China’s efforts to expand its influence globally.

The person who would assume the key post at the State Department would play a catalytic role in her effort to balance Washington’s support for Tel Aviv with growing pressure from her own party to take action to ensure better protection for civilians in Gaza and Lebanon.

More than any other cabinet member, the foreign secretary will have the greatest opportunity to make his or her mark on world history – for better or worse.

For example, Colin Powell delivered a resounding UN speech on Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction program before the war that permanently tarnished his legacy.

John Kerry negotiated the Iran nuclear deal under Barack Obama, which was abandoned by former President Donald Trump. And then Mike Pompeo secretly traveled to North Korea to set the stage regarding high-profile nuclear talks between Trump and Kim Jong Un (though those talks subsequently collapsed).

For the Secretary of State, the names that are being heavily floated are the following, according to Politico.

William Burns

Burns, CIA director under Biden, is a former career diplomat, former ambassador to Russia during the Bush administration, and deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration. He has support from both political parties. Biden has given him some tough assignments, including shooting down a hostage deal and cease-fire that could end the Israel-Hamas war.

Jeff Flake

Flake is a former Republican senator from Arizona who … broke with Trump and served as Biden’s envoy to Türkiye until last month, a tough diplomatic assignment.

His background in the Republican Party would make him an outlier in the cabinet, but his selection could send the message that Harris believes in the importance of the US speaking with one voice when it comes to foreign policy.

Flake’s approval would depend in part on the influence of Trump and his MAGA movement among Senate Republicans, but Democrats would likely support him. U.S. diplomats, too, might welcome him as a person seen as a moderate.

Chris Murphy

Murphy is a progressive politician with years of experience and an interest in foreign policy. He stands out in part because he is willing to be tougher on U.S. allies that do not respect human rights as they should, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The Connecticut senator supported Biden’s decision to withdraw some weapons from Israel and insists that a Palestinian state will be part of any future solution to the Middle East crisis. Many Republicans would likely denounce him as too leftist in an endorsement process but Democrats would support him as would senators as they rarely block one of their own.

Linda Thomas Greenfield

Thomas Greenfield is a veteran of the Foreign Service whose previous positions include ambassador to Liberia.

She is highly trusted at the State Department, especially among women and people of color who often feel excluded from the top ranks, and has established a good working relationship with Harris, administration officials say.

She has a keen interest in African issues and knows foreign policy, especially after her tenure at the United Nations.
There, she managed to rally more than 140 countries to rebuke Russia for declaring war on Ukraine.

Pete Butitz

In his four years in Biden’s cabinet, Butitz, an avowed homosexual, is considered a political talent with communication mastery and big ambitions.

Serving as the US ambassador to the United Nations gives him a good chance of taking that office. The former mayor of South Bend has a good chance for that office.

For the Treasury Department

Lael Brainard

Brainard is a veteran economist with years of experience in policymaking and could be seen as a solid, consensus choice.
She recently served as vice chairman of the Federal Reserve and was confirmed by a 52-43 vote for that role in 2022.

Brainard was widely seen as the leading candidate for Treasury Secretary under Biden. But her current job as Biden’s top economic adviser could work against her if Harris wants to start with a new team.

Michael Bennett

One of Harris’ former Senate colleagues with whom she had a romantic relationship.
Bennett offers a comfortable access to private equity funds that would reassure Wall Street.

He also has relevant experience as a member of the Senate Finance Committee and is co-author of the Child Tax Credit, a major component of the outgoing vice president’s economic agenda.

Bennett is believed to have the blessing of the Republican-controlled Senate as well.
And with a Democratic governor in the state he hails from , he can appoint a replacement, meaning there is no risk of the party losing the seat.

Wally Adayemo

A veteran of the Obama administration, Adayemo was the No. 2 Treasury official. He oversaw a broad portfolio at Treasury, including work on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
He also has ties to Senator Elizabeth Warren, having served as the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

If he eventually takes on that portfolio, Adayemo would be the first black US Treasury Secretary.

Gina Raimondo

The former Rhode Island governor and businessman was at the forefront of the Biden administration’s industrial policy and competition with China.

He would be a centrist, business-friendly choice, though he could alienate progressives.

While her interest in running the Treasury is well known, some allies of Kamala Harris as well as herself have said the two are not on good terms.

Brian Nelson

Nelson was undersecretary of the Treasury primarily for terrorism issues under Biden until he left to join Harris’ campaign in July.

He has been a close adviser to Harris since he was California’s attorney general. Nelson is widely seen as a frontrunner for a senior position in Harris’s administration.

Blair Ephron

The prominent financier and investment banker is a longtime Democratic donor and was a major early supporter of Harris’ 2020 presidential bid.

As part of her campaign, Kamala Harris has pledged to prosecute businesses involved in wrongdoing, drawing on her experience with banks and other companies as California’s attorney general.

At the same time, she made a concerted outreach to business leaders, declaring that “She’s a capitalist” by promoting herself as a “practical” and “pragmatic” steward of the economy.

Harris has highlighted middle class development as the “flag” of her economic platform. In addition, she has called for tax breaks for first-time homebuyers as well as for small businesses.

Her plans also include stimulus to boost the supply of housing and the U.S. manufacturing sector.

Many of these ideas will have broad support among Democrats. But a Harris Treasury secretary would also have to settle intraparty differences on other issues, such as financial regulation.

On cryptocurrencies, for example, Harris has signaled that she would take a more industry-friendly approach than Biden-era regulators.

The next secretary of state, however, will be the one to steer the administration through key fiscal battles that are set to be fought in Washington in 2025.

These include a looming debt ceiling battle and negotiations on a major tax deal to address the expiration of the 2017 Republican tax law.

Attorney General

If Harris sidelines Trump on Nov. 5, it won’t be her first time overseeing a justice department, having been elected twice as California’s attorney general.

And while she touts her record in that position in nearly every campaign speech, she has not-so-subtly announced that she would like to prioritize the U.S. Department of Justice.

Harris often cites her work in negotiating a settlement with banks linked to the 2008 housing crisis – describing her decision to scrap a nearly finalized proposal and win more money for Californians.

She also praised her work to prosecute drug dealers and fight sex crimes.
Her attorney general will inherit several political prosecutions, including cases against New York City Mayor Eric Adams and, of course, Donald Trump.

Attorneys general regularly face dilemmas that don’t win them and Congress, and none of those who have held the office in the last century have moved on to higher political office.

Catherine Cortez Masto

Her strong relationship with Harris was revealed this summer when the vice president assigned her former Senate colleague to help vet her short list of potential candidates. And she shares Harris’s law enforcement record having leveraged her work as attorney general.
Many Democrats who know her expect the Nevada senator to be a minister in the Harris administration.

Dug Jones

The former Democratic senator from Alabama was reportedly a finalist for the office under Biden, and some Democrats believed he would have brought a political sensibility to the office that Attorney General Merrick Garland eschewed.

During his brief tenure in the US Senate, he built relationships with Republicans that could prove valuable during an approval process. And he won widespread praise as a U.S. attorney in Alabama.

Cory Booker

Booker, another candidate also a Yale Law School graduate, could serve as attorney general under Harris. He has spoken fervently about justice and civil rights. And he could likely receive the blessing of a Republican Senate and be replaced by a Democratic governor.

Sally Yates
Yates was the No. 2 in the department in the final years of Barack Obama’s administration. She took over as attorney general after Trump’s inauguration. But her stay lasted just 10 days. Trump quickly removed her when she refused to defend his executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries – which helped win her praise from Democrats.

But that battle made Yates vulnerable to political fire, which could complicate efforts to get it ratified by a Republican Senate.

Andy Beshear

Like Harris, the Kentucky governor was the attorney general of the state where he was born. He won re-election in 2023 by 5 points, impressing Democrats with his performance in a “red state.”

He could run for a third term in Kentucky, but an appointment to the attorney general’s office offers a way to showcase a future leader of the party while bringing regional diversity to the cabinet.

Vanita Gupta

Gupta, known for her work on civil rights issues, ran the department’s Civil Rights Division in the final years of the Obama administration. She returned to the department as the third-highest-ranking official under the Biden administration. Republican senators have long criticized her for her record on policing, so her confirmation by a Republican-controlled Senate seems unlikely.

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