Democrat Hillary Clinton would likely try to make history with her choice for U.S. Treasury secretary while Republican Donald Trump would probably select someone whose biography resembles his own.
Clinton’s possible choices for Treasury include Facebook Inc.’s Sheryl Sandberg and Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard, people familiar with the selection process said. Another candidate is TIAA-CREF President and CEO Roger Ferguson, who would be the first African American in the job.
Potential Trump nominees include his campaign’s finance chairman, hedge fund founder Steven Mnuchin, and investors Carl Icahn and Wilbur Ross Jr., according to a person familiar with his thinking. Trump has publicly said that Icahn would be a good choice for the position.
The people the two candidates are considering as the public face for their economic policies reflect the spirit of their campaigns. Clinton would be the first female president and has declared that at least half her Cabinet will comprise women. Trump has boasted of his business acumen and has mused about awarding Cabinet jobs to fellow billionaires.
The choice is expected within weeks after the Nov. 8 election, which Clinton remains favored to win, according to polling averages.
In Clinton’s case, the nomination will also provide a first glimpse of how her administration navigates tensions between the Democratic party’s resurgent liberal wing, led by Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and more business-friendly economic moderates. Other names under consideration by Clinton’s aides include Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin, someone thought palatable to Warren, who campaigned for Clinton but has also threatened to obstruct appointments she considers too tight with Wall Street.
“Everyone is acutely aware that the dumbest thing anybody can do is get into a big fight that divides the Democrats,” said Dennis Kelleher, head of Better Markets, an advocacy group founded in the wake of the financial crisis. “There’s a lot of motivation to making sure that the nomination process goes smoothly. First and foremost is Treasury secretary.”
Recruiting Challenge
Filling the role of Treasury secretary is a recruiting challenge for even the savviest transition team. The job usually demands a versatility unlike other Cabinet posts: someone who can speak plainly to Main Street, with gravitas to financial markets, with diplomacy to foreign finance ministers and with restraint to members of Congress.
All of the people who discussed or confirmed the candidates’ possible Treasury picks asked not to be identified because no decisions have been made and the election isn’t over. Fox Business Network reported Thursday that Mnuchin is Trump’s top choice for the job; the Trump and Clinton campaigns did not respond to requests for comment for this story.