Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard has been told by allies of President-elect Joe Biden that she should stay at the central bank, according to people familiar with the matter, further dimming odds she’s chosen as the next Treasury secretary.

Brainard is the only Democrat on a Fed board filled mostly by President Donald Trump’s appointments, and she may be a leading candidate for Fed chair when Jerome Powell’s term expires in 2022.

Brainard emerged as a top contender to become the first female Treasury secretary before the election, but in recent weeks liberal figures in the Democratic party have pushed Biden to choose former Fed chair Janet Yellen for the post. Biden said last week that he had decided on his Treasury secretary but declined to say who he’d nominate.

Biden transition officials have not directly told Brainard they want her to remain at the Fed, spokesman Andrew Bates said. A Fed spokesperson declined to comment.

Last week, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin sparked a rare public conflict between Treasury and the Fed when he said he wouldn’t agree to extend some central bank lending programs created by the Cares Act, passed by Congress in March.

Mnuchin says the programs are no longer needed, and the money should be returned to the Treasury and put to better use elsewhere by Congress.

Brainard’s portfolio at the Fed includes overseeing those programs. That will provide some continuity in the midst of a crisis and disagreement with the Trump administration, which has refused to begin the transition process to Biden’s presidency as the president continues to challenge the election results.

Yellen would meet Biden’s description of a person acceptable across the Democratic Party, with progressives amenable to her in part because she has endorsed the idea of taxing carbon emissions to fight climate change.

Brainard was a Barack Obama appointee to the Fed, where she has served since 2014. She has a broad portfolio which includes overseeing the central bank’s pandemic-related emergency lending programs.

Two seats are already vacant at the Fed. Trump has nominated current Fed official Chris Waller to fill one of those seats. Judy Shelton earlier this month failed to proceed to a final confirmation vote. Shelton, a former Trump campaign adviser, is one of the most controversial picks for the Fed board, with many Republican lawmakers refusing to support her.

—With assistance from Jennifer Epstein.

This article was provided by Bloomberg News.