Biden-Harris administration: Here’s who could serve in top roles

(CNN)President-elect Joe Biden is set to announce who will serve in top roles in his administration in the coming days and weeks.

He has already announced that Ron Klain, one of his most trusted campaign advisers, will serve as his incoming chief of staff. And Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager, and Rep. Cedric Richmond of Louisiana, a co-chair of Biden’s transition team and presidential campaign, will serve in top roles in the White House.

© Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken takes part in a naturalization ceremony on World Refugee Day on June 20, 2016, in Washington, DC.

The Biden campaign also announced several White House senior staff members on November 17, including: Mike Donilon, chief strategist for the Biden campaign; Steve Ricchetti, chairman of the Biden campaign; Dana Remus, general counsel to the Biden campaign; Julie Rodriguez, deputy campaign manager on the Biden campaign; and Annie Tomasini, Biden’s traveling chief of staff. Members of soon-to-be first lady Jill Biden’s office were also announced.

Each of Biden’s Cabinet nominees will need to be confirmed by the US Senate, which is currently controlled by Republicans. Two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5 could determine which party controls the chamber and impact the Cabinet confirmation process.

The Cabinet includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Justice, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury and Veterans Affairs.

© Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images Sen. Doug Jones, an Alabama Democrat, holds a news conference on November 6, 2019.

Several key positions also have Cabinet-level rank: White House chief of staff, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Office of Management & Budget director, United States Trade Representative ambassador, Council of Economic Advisers chairman and Small Business Administration administrator.

© Paras Griffin/Getty Images Mayor of Atlanta Keisha Lance Bottoms speaks onstage during the 2018 Essence Festival presented by Coca-Cola on July 7, 2018, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

This list will be updated based on conversations with Biden allies and advisers and Democrats with knowledge of the matter.

Here’s who has been mentioned in conversations about potential top roles in the Biden administration:

 

Secretary of State

Antony Blinken

Blinken served in the Obama administration as the deputy secretary of state, assistant to the president and principal deputy national security adviser. He served as the national security adviser to then-Vice President Biden and deputy assistant to the president during Obama’s first term. He has been a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Democratic staff director at the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

During the Clinton administration, Blinken served as a member of the National Security Council staff at the White House, and held roles as the special assistant to the president, senior director for European affairs, and senior director for speechwriting and then strategic planning. He was Clinton’s chief foreign policy speechwriter.

© Toya Sarno Jordan/Getty Images Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during a news conference on immigration outside the US Capitol on June 13, 2018, in Washington, DC.

Blinken is also being considered as national security adviser.

© Andre Chung/The Washington Post/Getty Images/FILE Jen O’Malley Dillon served as Biden’s campaign manager.

Chris Coons

© Win McNamee/Getty Images Former national security advisor Susan Rice arrives to speak at the J Street 2018 National Conference on April 16, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Coons currently occupies the same Delaware Senate seat that Biden held for decades. A longtime Biden ally, Coons was one of the first members of Congress to endorse the former vice president when he declared his 2020 presidential candidacy. Coons sits on the following committees in the Senate: Foreign Relations, Appropriations, Judiciary, Small Business & Entrepreneurship and Select Committee on Ethics. Throughout his Senate career, Coons has been known for working across the aisle and forging strong relationships with high-profile Republicans who shared common interests.

Susan Rice

Rice served in the Obama administration as UN ambassador and national security adviser. She served in Clinton’s administration as the special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the White House, the assistant secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs at the State Department and the director of international organizations and peacekeeping at the National Security Council. Rice was one of a handful of women on Biden’s shortlist for a running mate.

Rice at one point was thought to be the clear choice to succeed Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, but in 2012 withdrew her name from consideration to avoid a bitter Senate confirmation battle. Rice was the target of Republican criticism after comments she made on Sunday morning TV shows defending the Obama administration’s handling of the September 11, 2012, attacks on the Benghazi consulate that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

 

Secretary of the Treasury

Lael Brainard

Brainard currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She previously served as the Under Secretary of the US Department of the Treasury and counselor to the secretary of the Treasury during the Obama administration. Brainard was the US representative to the G-20 Finance Deputies and G-7 Deputies and was a member of the Financial Stability Board. During the Clinton administration, Brainard served as the deputy national economic adviser and deputy assistant to the President. She also served as Clinton’s personal representative to the G-7/G-8.

© Stephen Crowley/The New York Times/Redux Steve Ricchetti in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington on August 1, 2000.

If chosen, the Federal Reserve governor would be the first woman to hold the powerful position. Brainard is not quite a consensus pick. Party progressives have other favorites, but neither would her nomination set off the kind of internal ideological war the incoming administration surely wants to avoid.

Sarah Bloom Raskin

Raskin was the deputy secretary of the US Department of the Treasury during the Obama administration. She was previously a governor of the Federal Reserve Board. Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Board, Raskin was the commissioner of financial regulation for the state of Maryland.

Outside of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Raskin, a former deputy secretary at the department, would be the top choice for most progressives. That she is less well known to the wider political world could also work in favor.

 

Secretary of Defense

Michèle Flournoy

If chosen and confirmed, Flournoy would be the first female secretary of defense. She served as the under secretary of defense for policy under Obama. Prior to her confirmation, Flournoy helped lead Obama’s transition team at the Defense Department. During the mid-1990’s, she served as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction, as well as deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy. She co-founded the Center for a New American Security, a bipartisan think tank, and WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm. Flournoy was a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

 

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

Patrick Murphy

Murphy, America’s first Iraq War veteran elected to Congress, represented the state’s 8th Congressional District. He served on the House Armed Services, Select Intelligence and Appropriations committees. He later served as the 32nd under secretary of the Army under President Barack Obama.

© From The American Law Institute Dana Ann Remus was general counsel to the Biden campaign.

 

Secretary of Homeland Security

Alejandro Mayorkas

Mayorkas was deputy secretary of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, and served as the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. While at USCIS, Mayorkas oversaw the implementation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which was an executive action under Obama that protected young undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation. President Donald Trump moved to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in 2017 and was ultimately blocked by the Supreme Court from doing so.

© Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, is pictured on the East Front of the Capitol on August 5, 2020.

Lisa Monaco

Monaco played a critical role in Biden’s vice presidential selection committee, and served as Homeland Security and counterterrorism advisor to Obama. Prior to that job, Monaco served as an assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice, and was a chief of staff to then-Director of the FBI Robert S. Mueller III.

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Former acting US Attorney General Sally Yates testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism on May 8, 2017, in Washington, DC.

 

Attorney General

© Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, conducts a town hall on September 19, 2019, in Washington, DC.

Jeh Johnson

Johnson was the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017 under the Obama administration. Previously, Johnson had been appointed by Obama to be general counsel of the Department of Defense. In the Clinton administration, Johnson served as general counsel of the Department of the Air Force.

© Paul Morigi/WireImage for Niche Media/Getty Images Mike Donilon previously served as a counselor to then-Vice President Biden.

Doug Jones

© Charles Dharapak/AP US Surgeon General appointee Dr. Vivek Murthy appears on Capitol Hill on February 4, 2014.

Jones is the junior United States Senator from Alabama. He lost his reelection bid earlier this month to Republican Tommy Tuberville. President Bill Clinton appointed Jones as US Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and Jones was the lead prosecutor suing KKK members responsible for the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Jones was also involved in the prosecution of Eric Rudolph, whose 1998 attack on a Birmingham abortion clinic killed an off-duty police officer.

Sally Yates

Yates was fired by Trump from her role as acting attorney general. The stunning move came after CNN and other outlets reported that Yates told Justice Department lawyers not to make legal arguments defending Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees. Trump’s executive order, signed in January 2017, barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for the following 90 days, suspended the admission of all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely suspended the Syrian refugee program. The executive order was later blocked by a federal judge, but the Supreme Court ultimately upheld a revised version of the ban.

Yates had been appointed by Obama and was set to serve until Trump’s nominee for attorney general was confirmed.

 

Secretary of the Interior

Deb Haaland

Haaland is a congresswoman from New Mexico, and is one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress. Biden has said he wants an administration that looks like the country. Haaland, the vice chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, would be the first Native American Cabinet secretary if she were to get an offer and accept it. Haaland also leads the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

© Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Gov. Jay Inslee, Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during a forum on gun safety on August 10, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa.

Tom Udall

Udall is the senior senator from New Mexico. He previously was the US representative for the state’s 3rd Congressional District. In 1990, hr was elected New Mexico attorney general, and was reelected in 1994. Udall also was chief counsel to the New Mexico Department of Health and Environment, and he fought for stronger environmental and health protections.

© Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg/Getty Images Andrew Yang, founder of Venture for America and a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, in Manchester, New Hampshire, on February 7, 2020.

Yang is an entrepreneur and former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. He rose from obscurity to become a highly-visible candidate, and his supporters are sometimes referred to as the “Yang Gang.” His presidential campaign was centered around the idea of universal basic income, and providing every US citizen with $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year. His campaign slogan was “MATH,” or “Make America Think Harder.” Yang joined CNN as a political commentator in February, after dropping out of the presidential race.

 

Secretary of Labor

Andy Levin

Levin is a popular progressive who is also growing his base of support with labor leaders, including at the Communications Workers of America. The United Auto Workers and National Nurses United unions are backing the Michigan congressman for the role. Like Walsh, Levin has a background as an organizer with major unions. But he also has credibility with climate activists for having helped create Michigan’s Green Jobs Initiative.

Sara Nelson

Nelson is the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. She cemented her image as a rising star of the labor movement during a prolonged government shutdown that stretched from December 2018 to January 2019. During the shutdown, Nelson appeared on cable television and used social media to warn of the dangers of not paying airport workers, and called for a general strike at an AFL-CIO gathering in January.

© Greg Nash/Pool/AFP/Getty Images Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, asks a question to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he testifies during a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing on the State Departments 2021 budget on July 30, 2020, in Washington, DC.

Bernie Sanders

Sanders is reaching out to potential supporters in labor to ask for their support as he mounts a campaign for the job. But he is viewed as a long shot and so far has received mix reactions from labor leaders. In his public comments before and after the election, he focused on a 100-day agenda for the Congress. But with Democrats likely needing to win both Georgia runoffs to take control of the Senate, running a powerful agency might have become more appealing.

© The White House Julie Chavez Rodriguez was a deputy campaign manager for Biden.

Sanders told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday that if Biden asked him to join his Cabinet as Labor secretary, he would accept the nomination. “If I had a portfolio that allowed me to stand up and fight for working families, would I do it? Yes, I would,” Sanders said.

Marty Walsh

Walsh is the mayor of Boston, and is AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s pick for the job, a big endorsement in what could soon turn into a contentious debate between moderate Democrats and progressives, who will favor Sen. Bernie Sanders or Michigan Rep. Andy Levin. Walsh grew up in a union family and became a top Boston labor leader before being elected mayor.

 

Health and Human Services Secretary

Michelle Lujan Grisham

Grisham was the first Democratic Latina to be elected governor in the US. Grisham was elected to Congress in 2011 and served three terms representing New Mexico’s 1st congressional district. She was chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. Grisham was under consideration to serve as Biden’s vice president.

© Scott Eisen/Getty Images Boston Mayor Marty Walsh speaks at a press conference on March 13, 2020, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Vivek Murthy

© MARK RALSTON/AFP/AFP via Getty Images Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at the Convention Center in Los Angeles, California, on March 1, 2020.

Murthy, a doctor of internal medicine, is the co-chair of Biden’s coronavirus advisory board. He previously served as the US surgeon general after being nominated by Obama. He resigned in April 2017 at the request of the Trump administration. He was confirmed by the Senate after facing opposition from Senate Republicans for calling to treat gun violence as a public health issue.

Gina Raimondo

Raimondo is the first woman governor of Rhode Island. She previously served as the general treasurer of the state. Raimondo was elected governor in 2014 and won reelection in 2018. That same year, Raimondo was elected to serve as the chairwoman of the Democratic Governors Association. Raimondo was among the women considered for Biden’s running mate.

 

Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary

Keisha Lance Bottoms

Bottoms is the mayor of Atlanta and is a rising star of the Democratic Party. Bottoms stepped into the national spotlight when she denounced vandalism in her city as “chaos” after demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by police in Minneapolis. Bottoms is a former judge and city council member. She was considered as a potential running mate for Biden.

 

Secretary of Education

Randi Weingarten

Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO and has long pushed for education reform. Prior to holding that role, she was the president of the United Federation of Teachers, AFT Local 2. Weingarten served on an education reform commission put together by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She also chaired New York City’s Municipal Labor Committee.

 

Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency

Jay Inslee

© Zach Gibson/AFP/Getty Images Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and former National Security Division Assistant Attorney General Lisa Monaco speaks during a conference between CSIS and the Justice Department on September 14, 2016, in Washington, DC.

Inslee is the governor of Washington state, and previously served in the US House of Representatives. He was a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2020 election. Inslee is dedicated to addressing climate change and other environmental issues, and made the environment the central focus of his 2020 presidential bid. While in the US House of Representatives, he served on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and on the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

 

UN ambassador

© BONNIE CASH/AFP/POOL/Getty Images Rep. Debra Haaland, a New Mexico Democrat, speaks during a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on June 29, 2020, in Washington, DC.

Pete Buttigieg

© Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images US Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard attends a “Fed Listens” event at the Federal Reserve headquarters on October 4, 2019, in Washington, DC.

Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate. Buttigieg’s presidential bid was historic — he was the first out gay man to launch a competitive campaign for president, and he broke barriers by becoming the first gay candidate to earn primary delegates for a major party’s presidential nomination.

 

White House Press Secretary

Kate Bedingfield

© CNN Kate Bedingfield worked at the White House under the Obama administration as Biden’s communications director.

Bedingfield was the deputy campaign manager and communications director for Biden’s presidential campaign. She worked at the White House under the Obama administration as Biden’s communications director. She previously worked at the Motion Pictures Association of America, where she was the vice president of corporate communications. Bedingfield was also the spokeswoman for John Edwards’ 2008 presidential campaign, and the communications director for Jeanne Shaheen’s 2008 Senate campaign in New Hampshire.

Bedingfield is also being considered for White House communications director.

© Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images US Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Sarah Bloom Raskin attends the opening ceremony of the APEC Finance Ministers’ Meeting in Beijing on October 22, 2014.

Symone Sanders

Sanders was a senior adviser to the Biden 2020 campaign. Sanders worked as national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign. She later joined CNN as a political commentator. She is also under consideration for principal deputy press secretary.

Additionally, here are the positions the BIden transition team has announced.

 

Chief of Staff

Ron Klain (announced on November 11)

Klain served as Biden’s chief of staff in the Obama White House and was also a senior aide to the President. He previously served as the chief of staff to Vice President Al Gore and Attorney General Janet Reno. Klain was appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama to serve as the White House Ebola Response Coordinator. In 2000, he was the General Counsel for the Gore Recount Committee. Klain has been a top debate preparation adviser to Biden, Obama, Bill Clinton, Gore, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton.

© Theo Wargo/Getty Images US Ambassador to Uruguay Julissa Reynoso speaks onstage at Variety’s Power of Women New York on April 24, 2015 in New York City.

 

Deputy Chief of Staff

Jen O’Malley Dillon (announced November 17)

O’Malley Dillon will join Biden’s incoming administration as a deputy White House chief of staff. O’Malley Dillon was Biden’s presidential campaign manager and has served numerous other political campaigns — including former Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s failed 2020 presidential primary campaign and both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. She is expected to have the operations portfolio in the White House — a role Jim Messina played in Obama’s first term. She has held a number of top jobs within the universe of Democratic organizations, including executive director of the Democratic National Committee and the founding partner at Precision Strategies, a Democratic consulting firm.

 

Senior Adviser to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement

Cedric Richmond (announced November 17)

Richmond will serve as senior adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Richmond was a national co-chairman of the Biden campaign and is currently a co-chair of the Biden-Harris transition team. Richmond has represented Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district in the US House of Representatives since 2011. He previously served as the chairman of the influential Congressional Black Caucus.

 

Senior Adviser to the President

© Provided by CNN

Mike Donilon (announced November 17)

Donilon will serve as senior adviser to the president. He served as the chief strategist for the Biden campaign, and was responsible for overseeing the campaign’s messaging, television advertising, speechwriting and polling. Donilon previously served as a counselor to then-Vice President Biden in the Obama White House.

 

Counsel to the President

© Patrick Semansky/Pool/Getty Images Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana Democrat, votes to approve the second article of impeachment as the House Judiciary Committee holds a public hearing on Capitol Hill on December 13, 2019.

Dana Remus (announced November 17)

© Chris Kleponis/AFP/Getty Images Michele Flournoy, president of the Center for a New American Security, looks on during a conference on the transition of the US presidency from Obama to Trump on January 10, 2017, in Washington, DC.

Remus will serve as counsel to the president. She served as general counsel to the Biden campaign, and previously was the general counsel to the Obama Foundation and former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama’s personal office. During the Obama administration, Remus was the deputy assistant to the President and deputy counsel for ethics.

 

Counselor to the President

Steve Ricchetti (announced November 17)

Ricchetti will serve as a counselor to the president. He served as chairman of the Biden campaign. Ricchetti has previously served in senior roles on Capitol Hill and at the White House, including as assistant to the president, chief of staff to then-Vice President Biden, deputy chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, deputy assistant to the President for legislative affairs for Clinton during the impeachment hearings, and executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1992.

© Matt Rourke/AP Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden and senior adviser Symone Sanders participate in a campaign event in Iowa City, Iowa, on January 27, 2020.

 

Director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs

© Andrew Harnik/AP Former Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden at Bucks County Community College, Saturday, October 24, 2020, in Bristol, Pennsylvania.

Julie Rodriguez (announced November 17)

Rodriguez will serve as the director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. Rodriguez served as deputy campaign manager on the Biden campaign. She previously was the national polling director and traveling chief of staff for Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign. During the Obama administration, Rodriguez served as special assistant to the president and senior deputy director of public engagement in the Office of Public Engagement.

© Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images Ron Klain, former White House Ebola response coordinator, speaks during a House Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing in Washington, DC, on March 10, 2020.

 

Director of Oval Office Operations

Annie Tomasini (announced November 17)

Tomasini will serve as director of Oval Office operations. Tomasini currently serves as Biden’s traveling chief of staff. She previously served as deputy press secretary for then-Vice President Biden and press secretary for Biden when he was chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

 

Chief of Staff to Jill Biden

Julissa Reynoso Pantaleon (announced November 17)

 

Pantaleon will serve as chief of staff to Jill Biden. She is currently a partner at the law firm Winston & Strawn. During the Obama administration, Reynoso served as US ambassador to Uruguay and as deputy assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere at the State Department.

 

Senior Adviser to Jill Biden

Anthony Bernal (announced November 17)

Bernal will serve as senior adviser to Jill Biden in the White House. He was the deputy campaign manager and chief of staff to Jill Biden on the campaign. He worked with Jill Biden for all eight years of the Obama administration, including as the second lady’s director of scheduling, trip director and deputy chief of staff.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story used a photo that incorrectly identified Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania. It has been replaced.