Trump taps Elaine Chao for transportation secretary

(Image credit: EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

published 29 November 2016

Elaine Chao, who served as labor secretary under former President George W. Bush, is President-elect Donald Trump's pick for transportation secretary, The Associated Press confirmed Tu esday. Chao was previously involved with the Trump campaign's Asian Pacific American Advisory Committee. She is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Trump and Chao met at Trump Tower last week. The president-elect has outlined big plans for the Department of Transportation, proposing a $1 trillion investment on "roads, bridges, ports, and other systems of transportation," The New York Times reported.

In 2001, Chao became the first Asian-American Cabinet member, The Washington Post noted. With her role as transportation secretary, she will, somewhat amazingly, become the second woman to serve as both labor and transportation secretary and to be married to a Senate majority leader. The first woman to do so was Elizabeth Dole, who served under both former President George H.W. Bush and former President Ronald Reagan, and is married to former Sen. Bob Dole.