‘Full-blown panic’: Columnist says Trump’s cabinet pick is worrying Republicans

President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to become the nation’s next labor secretary just may be the most shocking revelation to come out of his transition team – a candidate who many American workers actually like, a New York Times columnist wrote Monday afternoon.

However, that doesn’t mean Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer's (R-OR) confirmation process will be smooth sailing.

“In fact, Chavez-DeRemer, the daughter of a Teamster, has such a pro-union record that some Republicans are in a full-blown panic about her nomination,” New York Times editorial board member Farah Stockman wrote in an op-ed published Monday.

What’s worrying to Republicans is the Oregon lawmaker's pro-union record, including being one of only three in her party to cosponsor the PRO Act, which protects workers’ rights to organize, as Stockman wrote. She also cosponsored the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which requires all states to recognize public-sector unions, the columnist noted.

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That record stirred Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) to write on X that he plans to question Chave-DeRemer about her support for “Democrat legislation in Congress that would strip Louisianas ability to be a right to work state, and if that will be her position going forward.”

“Her nomination puts the economic populist wing of the Republican Party on a collision course with more traditional Republicans, who have always been on the side of company bosses,” Stockman told readers Monday. “She embodies the contradiction that is the Trump coalition. It won political power with widespread support from blue-collar workers but has up until this point looked poised to hand the federal government over to business-friendly billionaires.”

Stockman concluded her op-ed by theorizing that Trump tapped Chavez-DeRemer as a follow to President Joe Biden’s pro-labor record, and perhaps to reward Teamsters president Sean O’Brien, who she noted is said to have personally pushed for Chavez-Remer.

But, Stockman added, “to prove his support for American workers, Trump must do more than one cabinet nomination.”