Clyburn: Marcia Fudge will be nominated for a Cabinet position

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) predicted President-elect Joe Biden would nominate Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) to a Cabinet position in a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“Look for her to be in the Cabinet,” Clyburn said. “It may not be at Agriculture but she will be nominated to be in the Cabinet.”

I think those of us who are in office should lead by example. We believe in the precepts as to what we think ought to take place in order to prevent this virus.

I will take the vaccine as soon as it’s made available for me and I hope people will follow suit. – via @Morning_Joe pic.twitter.com/kDtKkvHU35

— James E. Clyburn (@WhipClyburn) December 8, 2020

Clyburn, whose endorsement was key to Biden’s victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary, has previously said Biden has fallen short on Black nominees. “From all I hear, Black people have been given fair consideration,” Clyburn told Juan Williams, a columnist for The Hill, in late November.

“But there is only one Black woman so far,” he added, referencing Biden’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Clyburn, who is both the highest-ranking elected Black Democrat and the chair of the Biden inaugural committee, has actively lobbied for the Cleveland-area representative to head the Department of Agriculture.

“It’s time for Democrats to treat the Department of Agriculture as the kind of department it purports to be,” he told The New York Times in late November, saying the department budget “deals with consumer issues and nutrition and things that affect people’s day-to-day lives.”

In addition to farming issues, the department also oversees rural housing and nutritional assistance programs such as food stamps.

Clyburn told the Times that Fudge could specifically help improve the department’s services beyond wealthy agribusiness, be it to “little farmers in Clarendon County, S.C., or food stamp recipients in Cleveland, Ohio.”

Former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) and former Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are also reportedly under consideration for the post.