Julie Su, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the next secretary of labor, is set to take part in a Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.
Su first joined the Biden administration as the deputy secretary of labor in 2021, becoming the second-highest ranking official within the department. She was confirmed to the role with the unanimous support of Democrats in the Senate and no support from Republicans.
Upon Labor Secretary Marty Walsh’s departure from the administration earlier this year, Su, 54, became the acting secretary of labor. And in March, she was formally nominated by Biden to permanently fill the secretary role.
In her most recent role as Walsh’s deputy, the Labor Department said she worked “as the de-facto chief operating officer for the department, overseeing its workforce, managing its budget and executing the priorities of the secretary of labor.” The White House, ahead of Su’s hearing, has also emphasized that Su played a role in high-stakes rail negotiations last year.
Su, a former California state government official who spent years representing low wage workers while working as a civil rights lawyer, was long seen as a frontrunner to replace Walsh and was championed by a number of labor groups and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. If confirmed, Su would be the Biden administration’s first ever Asian-American Cabinet secretary.
However, despite a Democratic majority within the Senate and past unanimous support for Su from senators in the party, some Democrats have yet to get on board with her nomination this time around. Their noncommittal stance signals that Su may face additional challenges to being confirmed.
Much like Walsh, who served as a union official before seeking political office, Biden’s second labor secretary nominee has a background that largely reflects his…
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