Should Biden Pick a Republican Cabinet Member?

Mark Colley

Former Ohio governor John Kasich. Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker. Utah senator Mitt Romney. Even former eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

The list of Republican figures who could be picked to serve on Joe Biden’s cabinet, as reported by POLITICO, is extensive and intriguing. It would mark the return to a political convention abandoned by the administration of Donald Trump but previously standard practice.

But more than that, it opens up a can of worms that could damage Biden’s relationship with the far-left of the Democratic party and only charm the small number of persuadable voters in this election.

Why, then, would Biden pick a Republican cabinet member?

Let’s make one thing clear: The actual act of picking a cabinet member has no electoral benefits. As expected, the Biden campaign said that it is not making any personnel decisions before the election, meaning that the actual announcement of a cabinet member can do nothing to help Biden win on November 3.

The only potential electoral benefit for Biden is in what his campaign is doing right now: leaking these plans to the press. This approach gets the news out in front of voters before the election and could help win over wary conservatives who might otherwise think of Biden as a puppet of the left.

But given that there is no electoral benefit in actually choosing a Republican cabinet member, only leaking plans to do so in the press, Biden should not make such an appointment.

Politically, it will do nothing but further the chasm between Biden and the far-left of the Democratic party — perhaps as important a chasm in determining whether Biden will be successful in governing as the gap between himself and the Republicans.

Far-left Democrats are worried — and rightly so — that choosing a Republican cabinet member will mean compromising on some key issues that they have fought so hard for. By appointing a Republican cabinet member, Biden would show that he is more willing to listen to the concerns of the other party and not the voices that will soon lead his own.

Some might argue that choosing a Republican to serve on Biden’s cabinet is not about politics — it’s a real, substantive step that the former vice president could take to draw the country closer together and bridge a gap between himself and the right that may be disenchanted from the political system if Donald Trump is voted out.

This much is true. It would be better for the country for Biden to live up to his pledge of unifying Washington. The symbolic step of providing representation in the executive branch for both parties could do just that.

But strictly politically, the potential fallout from the far-left could wreak havoc, especially if Democrats win control of the Senate and House of Representatives as well. Then, the primary division on Capitol Hill will be between the left and the moderates — not the Republicans and Democrats. And should Biden choose a Republican cabinet member, that division will only widen.

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