Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is now a top contender to be President-elect Joe Biden’s pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, according to two people close to the transition.
has the management experience necessary to run the sprawling health department amid a deepening public health crisis.for HHS secretary but also turned down an offer in recent days to run the Interior Department, according to three sources close to the transition. The offer was made by staff, not Biden himself, one of the people said.close to Lujan Grisham said of her desire to lead HHS, rather than the Interior Department. “You can’t blame her for being honest about where her real passion lies.
Another top candidate for the HHS role, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, is expected to join the Biden administration in some high-level capacity, five people familiar with the process said. However, his candidacy for the HHS job has been dented by concerns over his lack of management experience.
"The best thing one can say about Gina Raimondo is she is not Rahm Emanuel,” said Jeff Hauser, the director of the Revolving Door Project at the Center for Economic and Policy Research. “But just like Emanuel, a Cabinet appointment for Raimondo would end any era of good feelings within the Democratic Party."
“Governors are very familiar with health care because it’s such a huge part of their budget,” a source close to Biden told POLITICO, pointing to past HHS secretaries with gubernatorial experience like Kathleen Sebelius, Mike Leavitt and Tommy Thompson. “They’re also generally decent managers and good communicators and they have political skills.”
Influential groups like the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, UnidosUS and health care industry advocates on K Street had also been pushing for Lujan Grisham for health secretary, as they pressure Biden to keep his campaign pledge to select a historically diverse Cabinet. They’ve pointed to her extensive experience, which includes running New Mexico’s health agency, serving three terms in the House of Representatives, and leading her state through the pandemic.
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