Candidates and confirmations in Biden’s cabinet

Cassidy Bixby and Cathy Zhao

Dec 9, 2020

Despite election disputes, President-elect Joe Biden moves forward in assembling his cabinet. Art by Cassidy Bixby

The transition to a new president continues to make headlines as disputes persist regarding the current call naming Joe Biden as President-elect. Biden is pushing forward by starting to compile his Presidential Cabinet. President-elect Biden triumphed over incumbent president Trump and is now focused on creating a Cabinet with balanced diversity.

Thus far, several cabinet members have been announced, but have yet to be confirmed by the United States Senate. There is also a long list of potential candidates being considered. Biden’s choices awaiting confirmation include Former Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been announced as Secretary of State, former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as Secretary of the Treasury, former DHS Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as Secretary of Homeland Security, and Xavier Becerra to head Health and Human Services. The following are names of people that are contenders or have been confirmed for positions in Biden’s cabinet.

Kamala Harris

During the election, Biden has been focusing on breaking records by compiling a largely diverse cabinet, starting with choosing Kamala Harris as his Vice President. Harris has a background as an Attorney General in California and holds a current seat as a U.S. Senator from California. Harris will be the first female Vice President, as well as the first African American and Asian American Vice President.

Janet Yellen

Yellen will be the first woman to occupy this position of the United States Head Treasurer. Prior to her nomination for Biden’s cabinet, she was chosen as a Federal Reserve Board Governor, Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve, and Chair of the Federal Reserve. In the past and going forward, Yellen has focused on the stability of the economy and economic stimulus. Yellen’s experience has brought her nomination support amongst the Democratic party.

Deb Haaland

No concrete decisions have been made for the position of Interior Secretary, though Haaland is a popular pick backed by the Democratic party. Biden is being urged by advisors to nominate Haaland, who has served as a representative of New Mexico since the 2018 elections. If elected into Biden’s cabinet as Interior Secretary, she will be the first Native American to be part of a presidential cabinet.

John Kerry

Biden has chosen John Kerry to be Presidential Envoy for the Climate, a position created by Biden apart from the cabinet members. With this choice, Biden has taken a clear stance on supporting the climate crisis, a drastic change from the current president. When Kerry served as Secretary of State under the Obama administration, he helped secure commitments from nearly 200 nations to take action against climate change in the negotiation of the Paris Agreement, an agreement Kellen signed on behalf of the US, and an agreement Biden is expected to commit the United states to for a second time. He served as a U.S. Senator for Massachusetts for 28 years, and in 2013 he was sworn in as President Obama’s Secretary of State.

Jay Inslee

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee was just re-elected for his third term after he was unable to gain popularity as a candidate in the presidential race. Inslee defeated his grassroots opponent Loren Culp 56.7% to 43.3%. Soon after his victory, rumors began that Inslee was a candidate for Biden’s cabinet. If selected, he would likely take on an environmental position or serve as the Interior Secretary. However, Inslee has denied that Biden ever reached out to him and has firmly stated he intends to keep his job in Washington state. He said that he has no plans of leaving for federal work. “Look, I can do great work on clean energy here,” he said. “I love this state. So, I’m not interested in those federal positions.”

About the Contributors

Cassidy Bixby, Reporter

Junior Cassidy Bixby will be a reporter for Nordic News at IHS for the 2020-2021 school year. During this year she will explore and expand on her existing writing and artistic style. She also aims to bring out unheard voices from the Inglemoor community. In school you can find her wandering the art room, or in the American sign language, or environmental science class. While not at school, she will likely be at home with a good book, roaming around in nature, or working at a local Starbucks.

Cathy Zhao, Photo Editor

Senior Cathy Zhao is the Photo Editor of Nordic News for the 2020-2021 school year. This year, she hopes to continue writing feature articles on the vibrant members of our community and to help others perfect their photos. Outside of Nordic, she is a full IB student serving on the officer team for Girls Who Code, Technology Student Association and Robotics. Cathy is also passionate about language and education with her involvement in ESL and conversational teaching programs. Her interests include baking, reading, and photography.