Trump nominates GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer to lead Labor Department

President-elect Donald Trump said Friday that he has picked Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., to lead the Labor Department.

The one-term Republican and former mayor reportedly has the backing of Teamsters President Sean O'Brien and several of her Republican House colleagues.

She lost her reelection bid in November, so picking Chavez-DeRemer does not pull from Republican's razor-thin majority in the House.

"Lori has worked tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America," Trump said in a statement. "I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs."

In her 2024 race, Chavez-DeRemer courted union endorsements by talking about her father's experience as a member of the Teamsters union. She was endorsed by the largest federal employees union and numerous public safety unions, as well as United Food and Commercial Workers.

She is one of three Republican House cosponsors of a sweeping pro-union bill called the Protecting the Right to Organize Act.

The Department of Labor manages job safety rules, wage and hour standards and unemployment insurance benefits.

Trump is expected to instruct the new labor secretary to slash regulations his administration views as anti-business, including Biden-era measures to expand overtime pay eligibility to millions of workers; allow for the consideration of environmental, social, and governance factors in employee retirement investments and extend labor organizing rights to agricultural workers in the country on seasonal visas.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump taps GOP Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor Department