Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue III leads the list of potential agriculture secretary nominations in President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet, according to reports from two news outlets Monday.
While Perdue is Trump’s first choice to lead the Department of Agriculture, the decision is not final, an unnamed source told Bloomberg News. Politico first reported Perdue as the leading pick in the Playbook newsletter Monday.
Perdue, 70, has been floated as a potential cabinet pick since November, and he met with Trump in New York Nov. 30.
Trump “lit up” when Perdue said that aside from being governor, his experience was “as a business person and primarily in agricultural commodities, trading domestically and internationally,” Perdue told reporters after the meeting. (RELATED: A Cowboy, A CEO And A Senator Who Prays For Rain Top List For Trumps Agriculture Secretary)
Perdue was the first Republican governor elected in Georgia since Civil War reconstruction era, and has ties to agriculture business and food exports through his company Perdue Partners, LLC.
Trump and his staff met with a bevy of other potential nominees after Christmas, indicating that he had not come to a decision on the post. Trump met with Elsa Murano, President of Texas A&M University, former California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, Texas U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, and former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Susan Combs.
Current Texas Agriculture Commissioner and ardent Trump supporter Sid Miller met with Reince Priebus, outgoing chairman of the Republican National Committee and future chief of staff in Trump’s White House, last week as well.
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