Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is considering former Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich for a cabinet position, reports Politico.
Kasich lost the GOP presidential primary to President Donald Trump in 2016. He’s been a vocal critic of Trump’s and spoke in support of Biden at the Democratic National Convention in August.
Biden’s transition team is also vetting other Republicans, including Quibi CEO Meg Whitman, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake.
Trump doesn’t have any Democrats in his cabinet, but nearly every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has appointed a member of the opposing party to his cabinet.
Kasich, who served as a U.S. Representative between 1983 and 2001, earlier this month told CNN he wasn’t interested in a cabinet position.
"I'm not interested in returning to Washington," said Kasich. "When you were a governor, there’s nowhere to go from there. Being in a Cabinet or something like that, that just doesn’t have any interest for me."
A person close to Biden’s transition team told Politico it remains a "priority to have options" for the former vice president to consider despite concerns the news may alienate some on the left.
"My primary concern is that he involves people in the Cabinet who push back against corporate power and support a massive economic stimulus and the broad provision of health care," David Segal, the executive director of Demand Progress, a liberal advocacy group, told the news outlet. "Unfortunately, there are no prominent Republicans I know of who are on board with that agenda."
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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