Tuesday, November 08, 2016

Udall, Gregoire said to be on Clinton's short list for Interior secretary

Hillary Clinton's presidential transition team is eyeing six top candidates to lead the Interior Department if she is elected, including former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall and former Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire, according to a person who has spoken to the transition team. The list of leading candidates also includes Natural Resources Defense Council President Rhea Suh; Felicia Marcus, the chair of California's State Water Resources Control Board; Denise Juneau, the first American Indian woman elected to statewide office in Montana; and Katie McGinty, the former secretary of Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection, the source told POLITICO. The source cautioned the list is very much in flux. Clinton and her top campaign aides have likely not weighed in on the Interior candidates since they are focused on the election. Clinton's aides are also expected to weigh the breakdown of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, which won't be clear until after the election. But the short list offers the first real glimpse into the Clinton transition team's thinking when it comes to the Interior Department. Five of the six top contenders for the job are women, which keeps with Clinton's promise to install women in at least half of her Cabinet positions. Interior secretaries traditionally come from Western states. Choosing somebody like McGinty, who has also been mentioned as a possible candidate for EPA administrator, would break with that tradition. Gregoire, a Democrat, has long been considered an Interior candidate, including during Obama's presidency. Udall, a Democrat who is married to environmentalist Maggie Fox, lost his Senate seat to Cory Gardner in 2014...more

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