Fed Board Member Lael Brainard, the most serious rival of current Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in the presidential race, had a meeting with Joe Biden.
Brainard joins the race for Fed chair. According to sources familiar with the matter, Fed Governor Lael Brainard was interviewed for the Fed Chair when he visited the White House last week. This indicates that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has a serious rival as Joe Biden is trying to decide who will run the central bank for the next four years.
Powell and Brainard are the only two candidates to appear in the race for Fed chair. Powell’s term ends in February, and Biden announced on November 2 that he will make a “pretty quick” decision on the matter. In the previous reports, it was said that Brainard is also being considered for the vice chair of the supervisory Fed.
The White House Declined to Comment on the Matter
Biden’s space to reshape the Fed’s leadership has widened further after Governor Randal Quarles announced on Monday that he will step down before the end of the year. Quarles’ term for vice president expired in October, but he could remain in office as governor until 2032. With this resignation, another position that Biden had to fill in the Fed emerged.
In addition to the position revealed by Quarles, Vice Chairman Richard Clarida’s term as governor expires at the end of January, bringing the number of open positions on the Fed’s board to seven.
