With the start of every new presidential administration, it’s common for the incoming chief executive to tap members of the opposite party to fill spots in their Cabinet and other key positions. As President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office, could he reach out to former Republican Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman to be part of his team?
Huntsman, who served as ambassador to Russia under President Donald Trump and ambassador to China for President Barack Obama makes much more sense as a potential Biden appointee than Sen. Mitt Romney. The Utah senator was widely rumored to be under consideration for a Biden Cabinet spot until he put an end to that chatter last week.
Huntsman has worked for every president since Ronald Reagan, beginning as a White House staff assistant in 1983. He also was the ambassador to Singapore and spent time as the U.S. trade representative.
Biden and Huntsman are also good friends outside of the political arena. When Biden visited the Huntsman Cancer Institute in 2016 as part of the “Cancer Moonshot” initiative to turbocharge the search for a cure, it was Huntsman who led Biden on a tour of the facilities.
The two men also have a longstanding bet to race Biden’s Corvette against Huntsman’s Mustang.
“We agreed to one loop around the Naval Yard,” Huntsman joked in 2014. The challenge is apparently a little more serious than that, though.
“He (Huntsman) told me they almost pulled the race off, but wouldn’t give me any details,” said Scott Howell, a former Utah state senator who knows both men.
There has been some speculation that Huntsman might be interested in joining the Biden White House after coming up just short in his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination earlier this year, perhaps angling for secretary of state or as the director of national intelligence.
Huntsman was not available for comment, but he did provide a statement to The Salt Lake Tribune through his daughter, Abby.
“Although he has a relationship with President-elect Biden," she said in an email, “he has not talked to anyone about serving in the incoming administration.”
While there are reasons to think Huntsman would be a good fit in the new administration, there are just as many reasons why he might not be interested.
In the months following his GOP primary loss, Huntsman took steps to rejoin several corporate boards that he had to resign before he took the diplomatic posting in Moscow. Since June, he’s rejoined the Ford Motor Company and Chevron. While a presidential appointment would be prestigious, you have to wonder if Huntsman really wants to go through another round of resignations.
Then there’s the damage working for another Democrat, especially the Democrat who knocked off Donald Trump, would do to his political career. If the 60-year-old Huntsman harbors any desire to run for elected office again as a Republican, this could put an end to those ambitions.
He has also held some of the most prominent ambassadorships narrowing the number of positions he may be interested in. One possibility Utah politicos have raised is director of national intelligence. The post oversees the 17 U.S. intelligence agencies and is responsible for producing the presidential daily brief.
Huntsman is not the first Utahn rumored to be in line for that job. Rep. Chris Stewart was said to be high on the list of contenders under Trump earlier this year, but that appointment was reportedly nixed after the president learned of Stewart’s comments comparing Trump to Mussolini before he won the GOP nomination in 2016.
Huntsman was also rumored to be a contender for secretary of state under Trump. That job eventually went to Rex Tillerson, but not before Trump also considered Romney.
Huntsman is not the only Utahn who could be up for a job in a Biden administration. The leading candidate is Lily Eskelsen Garcia, who is widely considered to be among the front-runners to succeed Betsy DeVos as secretary of education.
Others who could be tapped to fill one of the thousands of available jobs once Biden takes office in January include Evan McMullin and outgoing Rep. Ben McAdams, who narrowly lost in the 4th District race.
Editor’s note • Jon Huntsman is a brother of Paul Huntsman, chairman of The Salt Lake Tribune’s nonprofit board of directors.
