Ex-Dem lawmaker being considered for Trump’s Transportation chief

Former Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is being considered for Transportation secretary or another post in the Trump administration, according to multiple reports.

{mosads}Ford — who served five terms in Congress representing Tennessee before unsuccessfully running for Senate in 2006 — is now a managing director for Morgan Stanley. 

The moderate Democrat is also a regular news analyst on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” a show with which president-elect Donald Trump has had a contentious relationship. Trump has been a regular watcher of the show, but has also feuded in the past with its hosts.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) post is sometimes used to round out diversity among an administration’s cabinet picks. Obama crossed party lines to tap Republican Rep. Ray LaHood (Ill.) to lead the department in 2009, for example.

Ford endorsed Hillary Clinton, but is reportedly a good friend of Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner.

Politico reports that Ford has yet to meet with Trump, but that feelers have been put out.

“He’s happy doing what he’s doing,” a source close to Ford told Politico. “If the president-elect called, then of course, he would listen carefully.”

Other names under consideration for Transportation chief include Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), a former Transportation Committee chairman who lost reelection; GOP state Rep. Greg Hughes, the Utah House Speaker; and Dewey Bartlett, the Republican mayor of Tulsa, Okla.