“Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo announced Thursday that she has taken herself out of contention to be President-elect Joe Biden’s health secretary.”
“I am not going to be President-elect Biden’s nominee for HHS secretary,” she said during a press conference on Thursday, declining to elaborate further. “My focus is right here in Rhode Island, as I have said.”
“Her decision threatens to scramble Biden’s plans for assembling a health care team to lead his pandemic response. Just a day earlier, people close to the transition told POLITICO that they viewed Raimondo as a leading contender for Health and Human Services secretary after New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham fell out of favor with Biden’s camp.”
“Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, also once seen as a top HHS candidate, is already planning to return to the surgeon general role with a broader portfolio that includes serving as a leading voice in the administration’s pandemic response.”
“Biden had been planning to roll out a slate of senior health care picks as early as Monday that included his choice for HHS secretary — a consequential Cabinet position for an administration that will immediately confront the spiraling coronavirus crisis…”
“As Raimondo took herself out of contention, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus during a Thursday call urged senior Biden officials to give…” Read the full article here.
Source: Raimondo says she won’t be Biden’s health secretary – By Adam Cancryn and Alice Miranda Ollstein, December 3, 2020. POLITICO.
