Biden says he seriously considered Bernie Sanders for labor secretary, but couldn't risk Senate control

• President-elect Joe Biden said on Friday that he strongly considered Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to be his labor secretary, but both men decided against the move after the dual Georgia runoff election wins gave Democrats control of the upper chamber.
• "I did give serious consideration on nominating my friend Bernie Sanders to this position," Biden said. "I'm confident he could have done a fantastic job. I can think of no more passionate, devoted ally to working people in this country."
• Biden ultimately tapped Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a close ally with strong ties to unions, to become his labor secretary.

President-elect Joe Biden said on Friday that he strongly considered Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont to be his labor secretary, but both men decided against the move after Democrats captured both US Senate seats in the Georgia runoff elections, giving the party control of the upper chamber.

Sanders, who was the last major candidate against Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, was a key surrogate for the president-elect in the run up to the November election.

"I did give serious consideration on nominating my friend Bernie Sanders to this position," Biden told reporters in Wilmington, Delaware. "I'm confident he could have done a fantastic job. I can think of no more passionate, devoted ally to working people in this country."

He added: "But after Tuesday's results in Georgia, giving Democratic control to the United States Senate and a tie vote, Bernie and I agreed - and as a matter of fact Bernie said - we can't put control of the Senate at risk on the outcome of a special election in Vermont."

Sanders is slated to lead the Senate Budget Committee in the 117th Congress.

Vermont has a Republican governor, Phil Scott, who was first elected in 2016 and reelected in 2018 and 2020. If Sanders had vacated his seat, it would have triggered a special election.

Read more: President-elect Biden expressed confidence his inauguration will be safe. A few hours later, Twitter warned there's talk of another DC Capitol attack on January 17th.

Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated GOP Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the Georgia elections, respectively. After both men are seated, the Senate will be split 50-50, with Democrats controlling the chamber due to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris's tiebreaking vote.

Biden ultimately tapped Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a close ally with strong ties to unions, to become his labor secretary.

"This is one of the most important departments to me," Biden said on Friday. "I trust Mayor Walsh and I'm honored he accepted."

The president-elect stated that he and Sanders would "work together, travel the country together" to meet "with working men and women who feel forgotten and left behind in this economy."

He added: "We agreed that we will work closely on our shared agenda of increasing worker power and to protect the dignity of work for all working people."