Hoekstra’s background in fighting back against Chinese electric-vehicle battery plants in Michigan in recent years could help his case.
Pete Hoekstra, the current Michigan GOP chairman, former longtime congressman, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands has privately expressed interest to allies in serving as the transportation secretary during the second Donald Trump administration, four sources familiar with the matter tell National Review.
Reached for comment by NR, Hoekstra confirmed his interest in the role but clarified that he defers to the president-elect’s judgment about how he can serve in the next administration, if at all. “The Trump team will make up its mind whether they believe there’s a place in their administration for me or not,” Hoekstra said in a brief interview with NR Thursday afternoon. “Whether they offer me a position or not, or at the end of the day, they just come back and say, ‘You know what? Pete: in this administration. There’s just not room for you. We don’t have a slot for you.’ I’m okay with that.”
It’s unclear whether Hoekstra is under serious consideration for the role, though his work as Michigan GOP chair this cycle as well as his background in fighting back against Chinese electric-vehicle battery plants in Michigan in recent years could help his case. Competition for transportation secretary will likely be stiff: NOTUS reported earlier this week that retiring Representative Garrett Graves (R., La.) is in talks with the Trump transition team about serving in the role, and other high-profile contenders have no doubt expressed interest to the Trump team privately in recent weeks.
“President-Elect Trump is making decisions on who will serve in his second Administration. Those decisions will be announced when they are made,” Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to NR when asked about Hoekstra and Graves being contenders for this role.
Speculation about who may be tapped to succeed current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg comes as Trump continues to fan out high-profile cabinet picks. As of this week, the list includes Representative Elise Stefanik (R. N.Y.) for ambassador to the U.N., Representative Mike Waltz (R., Fla.) for national security adviser, Senator Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) for Secretary of State, Governor Kristi Noem (R., S.D.) for Department of Homeland Security, former Representative Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, and Representative Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) for attorney general, among others.
If Hoekstra does not land a high-profile cabinet slot like transportation secretary, it’s possible the president-elect could tap him to serve again as ambassador to the Netherlands or another entirely different role in the administration after his time helping Trump’s on-the-ground efforts this cycle in Michigan.
As state GOP chairman, Hoekstra spent the months leading up to Election Day rebuilding a party apparatus that had been run into the ground – both politically and financially – under his controversial predecessor Kristina Karamo. Hoekstra’s efforts to turn the page on Karamo’s tumultuous tenure included bringing longtime donors back into the fold, such as the influential Michigan DeVos family, as National Review reported over the summer.