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List of possible nominees keeps growing

Elsa Murano

The list of potential nominees for U.S. Secretary of Agriculture continues to grow.

The latest name to be mentioned is Elsa Murano, former president of Texas A&M University. Murano also served as USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety during President George W. Bush’s administration. Murano is expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump this week.

Murano is the fourth Texan to be mentioned as a possible nominee. The others are Susan Combs, former ag commissioner and comptroller for the state of Texas; Sid Miller, current Texas ag commissioner; and farmer Wade Cowan, former president of the American Soybean Association.

North Dakota Democratic Senator Heidi Heitkamp’s name is still being floated, but she recently said she was “likely” to stay in the Senate. Some members of Trump’s campaign agricultural advisory committee have raised objections to a Democrat being considered for the position.

Some of the other names still being mentioned include former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue; Idaho governor Butch Otter; former deputy secretary of agriculture and National Council of Farmer Cooperatives CEO Chuck Conner; Ted McKinney, Indiana director of agriculture; Bruce Rastetter, an agricultural businessman in Iowa; and Nebraska businessman Charles Herbster, who chaired the agricultural and rural Advisory Committee for Trump’s presidential campaign.

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