Trump’s Fed chair shortlist grows longer than expected

President Donald Trump’s search for a successor to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is picking up speed, and the list of contenders is growing rather than shrinking.

The White House is weighing sitting governors, former officials, and prominent Wall Street figures.
As Cryptopolitan reporter earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he plans to meet soon with 11 nominees for the job, even though Powell’s term does not end until next May.

Here’s the list of 11 Fed chair contenders:

• Christopher Waller
• Kevin Hassett
• Kevin Warsh
• Michelle Bowman
• James “Jim” Bullard
• Lorie Logan
• David Zervos
• Larry Lindsey
• Philip Jefferson
• Rick Rieder
• Andrew Sumerlin

Trump recently praised “the two Kevins”, Kevin Hassett, who led the Council of Economic Advisers, and Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor. A mention that briefly seemed to sideline Fed Governor Christopher Waller according to Business Insider.

After an August 5 shout-out to Hassett and Warsh, Waller’s chances appeared to dim. Days later, Bloomberg reported that Waller had moved into the lead, and betting markets quickly showed that shift.

Waller, a veteran of the regional Fed system, was considered a conventional pick when Trump nominated him in 2019, alongside Judy Shelton, a Fed critic and former Trump adviser. The fight over Shelton spilled into Waller’s confirmation, which the Senate approved in December 2020 by a 48–47 vote — the tightest margin for any Fed governor since 1980.

This July, Waller joined Governor Michelle Bowman in dissent when the Fed opted against a rate cut, the first time in more than 30 years that two governors opposed a rate decision.

Hassett, a longtime GOP policy aide, advised George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney before running Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Warsh, on Trump’s radar in 2017 before Powell got the nod, worked in mergers and acquisitions at Morgan Stanley before joining the Fed in 2006 after service in the George W. Bush White House. He played a key role in the 2008 crisis response and later echoed Trump’s criticism of Powell. “The specter of the miss they made on inflation, it has stuck with them,” he told CNBC in July. “We need regime change in the conduct of policy.”

Bullard and Bowman stand out in Fed chair consideration

James “Jim” Bullard led the St. Louis Fed for 15 years and now is dean of Purdue’s business school.

Bowman is among three current governors in the mix. Appointed in 2018 and reappointed in 2020, she was narrowly confirmed in June as vice chair of supervision.

Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, in the post since 2022, is an alternate on the FOMC and is slated to vote in 2026. Logan is the first woman to lead the Dallas Fed full-time and previously ran the New York Fed’s securities portfolio.

David Zervos, Jefferies’ managing director and chief market strategist since 2010, worked as a Fed economist in the 1990s and served as a visiting adviser in 2009.

Former Governor Larry Lindsey, who served from 1991 to 1997 and advised Republican administrations for decades, now runs a consulting firm.

Jefferson emerges as potential first black Fed chair

Philip Jefferson, a Biden appointee since 2022 who became vice chair about a year later, previously served as Davidson College’s vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty. A Jefferson nomination would be historic: he would be the first Black chair and is only the fourth Black man to be a Fed governor.

Rick Rieder, BlackRock’s chief investment officer for global fixed income, oversees about $2.4 trillion and has served on the Fed’s Investment Advisory Committee on Financial Markets.

Many in Trump’s orbit know Andrew Sumerlin, a former deputy director of the National Economic Council under George W. Bush who launched a consulting firm in 2013; the Wall Street Journal has linked his firm’s work to interactions with Bessent.

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