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Trump transition live updates: President-elect raises prospect of pardons for Jan. 6 crimes

Trump Campaign

Andrew Harnik

President-elect <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> selected Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-Oregon) to lead the Labor Department, following some heavy lobbying from the Teamsters union.

“I am proud to hereby nominate Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer, from the Great State of Oregon, as United States Secretary of Labor,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Lori has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America.”

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien thanked Trump in a post on the social media platform X on Friday, and said that he had “put words into action,” after meeting with the union earlier this year. “North America’s strongest union is ready to work with you every step of the way to expand good union jobs and rebuild our nation’s middle class.”

Chavez-DeRemer’s selection was a surprise in Washington and marked an unusual nod toward the labor movement, whose rank-and-file members often embraced Trump during the election. DeRemer, 56, is a moderate Republican who has served on bipartisan congressional caucuses and supported pro-union legislation. She lost her reelection bid this month.

Her nomination was fiercely opposed by many business leaders.

Politico reported that the Teamsters pushed for her selection. The powerful transportation workers union with 1.3 million members strengthened ties to the Republican Party this year when O’Brien <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/09/18/teamsters-endorsement-election/" target=_blank>declined to endorse</a> in the presidential election and also spoke at the Republican National Convention.

Kara Deniz, a Teamsters spokeswoman, called Chavez-DeRemer “a strong advocate for workers.”

Trump’s pick of Chavez-DeRemer is another nod toward the populist energy that helped elect him and acknowledges his support from union members and working-class voters. But it could put her at odds with other parts of the administration aligned with the business industry.

Under Trump, the agency’s leadership has been expected to promote a more business-friendly agenda and reverse Biden-era efforts to champion unions. But the agency’s direction is less clear with the selection of Chavez-DeRemer and could be friendlier to workers and unions than previously thought.

Chavez-DeRemer was one of only three House Republicans to co-sponsor the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/20" target=_blank>Protecting the Right to Organize Act</a>, known as the Pro Act, a package of legislation that promised the biggest expansion to labor rights since the New Deal.

The bill would have eased the way for American workers to join unions, increased employer penalties for violating labor laws and weakened “right-to-work” laws, which dwindle union funds and membership by allowing workers covered by unions contracts to opt out of paying union dues.

DeRemer’s father was a Teamsters union member, she has said. A few unions<a href="https://www.lorichavezderemer.com/post/teamsters-joint-council-37-backs-chavez-deremer-for-re-election-marking-her-10th-labor-union-endors" target="_blank"> supported her</a> during her <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/2024/11/05/oregon-house-district-5/" target="_blank">failed bid</a> to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/10/23/oregon-house-election-moderates-bynum-chavez-deremer/" target="_blank">keep her seat</a> in Congress this year.

The labor secretary directs federal enforcement of minimum wage and child labor regulations, workplace health and safety rules, and other labor and employment laws. The Cabinet member typically serves as an advocate for workers and unions under Democratic administrations, and as a proponent of employer interests under Republican presidents.

Powerful business groups, including the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a group of hundreds of organizations representing millions of businesses, reacted in strong opposition to rumors of her potential nomination.

“We were alarmed by press reports that President-Elect Trump is considering Rep. Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor,” Kristen Swearingen, chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, said in a statement after news broke that Trump was considering Chavez-DeRemer.

The Pro Act “has been repeatedly rejected on a bipartisan basis by Congress and opposed by business groups representing almost every industry,” Swearingen said.

Also under consideration for leading the Labor Department was Andrew Puzder, the former Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s CEO whose nomination in 2017 <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/now-6-republicans-are-on-the-fence-about-andrew-puzder/2017/02/15/e34cada6-f38b-11e6-8d72-263470bf0401_story.html" target=_blank>tanked</a> amid concerns about his personal conduct and business record.

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., chief executive of SHRM, one of the world’s largest human resource associations, as well as former acting labor secretary Patrick Pizzella, the mayor of the golf resort town of Pinehurst, North Carolina, had also been in the running, according to two people familiar with internal deliberations who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Newswomen’s Club of New York's Best New Journalist Award, 2021

Sidney Hillman Foundation's Sidney Award, 2021

University of Chicago, BA in Comparative Literature

New York University, MA in Journalism and Latin American Studies

Lauren Kaori Gurley is the labor reporter for The Washington Post. She previously covered labor and tech for Vice for three years. 

Lauren Kaori Gurley

washpost

Trump picks Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for labor secretary

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Steve Scalise,Tom Emmer,Lori Chavez-DeRemer

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