President-elect Joe Biden signaled in an interview with NBC Wednesday that former rival Sen. Bernie Sanders is not a top pick for his cabinet.
Biden said it would be a “really difficult decision” to tap Sanders or Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Biden signaled in an interview with NBC that Sanders is not a top pick for his cabinet.
Immediate attempts to reach Sanders’ campaign press secretary Mike Casca were unsuccessful. Jeff Weaver, a longtime Sanders strategist, declined to comment.
NBC anchor Lester Holt asked Biden whether he would bring former Democratic primary rivals Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders into his cabinet.
Biden didn’t rule out the prospect. “There’s nothing really off the table,” he said, but he already has “significant representation among progressives in our administration.”
“Taking someone out of the Senate, taking someone out of the House, particularly a person of consequence is a really difficult decision that would have to be made,” Biden told Holt.
Biden emphasized that he has “a very ambitious, very progressive agenda, and it’s gonna take really strong leaders in the House and Senate to get it done.”
Sanders ran against Biden in the 2020 primary and lost. The junior senator stumped for the Democratic nominee before the general election.
Last month Politico reported that Sanders had expressed interest in becoming the secretary of the Labor Department.
If Sanders joined the Biden cabinet, Vermont’s Republican Gov. Phil Scott would appoint a replacement for Sanders in the Senate until the state holds a special election for the seat within six months of its vacancy. The winner would serve out the rest of Sanders’ term, which ends in 2025.
If Sanders is tapped for labor secretary, Scott has said he would appoint an independent who caucuses with the Democrats to fill the Senate seat temporarily. Vermont has a handful of independents who tend to skew conservative, including former Reps. Oliver Olsen and Adam Greshin, who is now finance commissioner.