House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson threw cold water Thursday on suggestions that he should be agriculture secretary in the Biden administration. “There’s plenty of people out there that want the job,” he told reporters, adding that he was “not looking for a full-time, four-year job” after 30 years in Congress.
Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge are the most commonly mentioned potential nominees for agriculture secretary. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who does not accept that Democrat Joe Biden is president-elect, suggested Biden should select Heitkamp or Peterson. “They’d be able to get things done for IA/Midwest farmers even w(ith) Democratic House and Republican Senate,” said the Iowa Republican.
Fudge is one of the foremost advocates of SNAP and other public nutrition programs in Congress. “Marcia would have no problems with the Senate Agriculture Committee” if she is nominated, said Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat on the panel, according to the news site cleveland.com. Fudge would be the first Black woman to head the USDA.
Peterson, who lost re-election on Nov. 3, said he wanted to step away from politics for a while. Agriculture secretary “is not something I aspire to at this point,” he said. “I’m going to back whoever the president picks.” He added a caveat: “If the president asks you to do something, you have to consider it.”
The contest for agriculture secretary “is now considered more open,” given the seeming impasse between backers of Heitkamp and Fudge and an aggressive push for Kathleen Merrigan, deputy agriculture secretary during the Obama era, and Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers union for 25 years, reported Politico. Obama’s agriculture secretary, Tom Vilsack, it said, “is also now a possibility.” Vilsack campaigned frequently for Biden’s election and has called for Democrats to work harder for votes in rural America.
If the Heitkamp and Fudge debate exacerbates the tug of war between centrist and progressive Democrats, Biden “may elevate a state secretary [of agriculture],” said National Journal contributing editor Jerry Hagstrom. “That would go along with his inclination so far to pick officials who would not create drama in the confirmation process.”
Two state agriculture secretaries have been mentioned as potential nominees for the USDA: Karen Ross of California and Russell Redding of Pennsylvania.