In a surprise move over the weekend, Texas attorney Brooke Rollins was announced as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Rollins is the president and CEO of the conservative nonprofit America First Policy Institute (AFPI), which was launched in 2021.
“As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American farmers, who are truly the backbone of our country,” Trump said in a statement.
The move came one day after a report from CNN pointed toward former Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) getting the nomination. This was the last major Cabinet post to be filled in the transition to Trump’s second administration, and according to reports from Politico, there was “ongoing fighting” about the position as the week went on.
CNN reported on Saturday that Rollins was an early candidate for the chief of staff role before it went to Susan Wiles — after which Rollins “told the transition team that Agriculture secretary would be another role she would be interested in.” Rollins and Trump discussed the role earlier in the week, CNN sources said.
In a post on X following the announcement, Rollins said, “It will be the honor of my life to fight for America’s farmers and our nation’s agricultural communities.”
Reactions have rolled in from national ag groups in the past 48 hours, but who is Rollins, and why has the Trump loyalist been picked to lead the USDA?
Background
The 52-year-old Rollins hails from Glen Rose, Texas, where she grew up on a family farm and participated in FFA, where she served as a state officer, and 4-H. Rollins stayed involved with both of those organizations and has been hands-on in the show cattle careers of her four children. The Rollins family lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
In a post on X Sunday, thanking people for well wishes after the nomination announcement, she highlighted her agriculture teacher at Glen Rose High School, Gary Rosenbusch, saying he changed her life.
Rollins attended Texas A&M University, where she became the first woman to be named student body president, and graduated with an undergraduate degree in agricultural development in 1994. Rollins then earned her law degree from the University of Texas.
Post-law school, Rollins worked at Hughes & Luce LLP, a law firm in Dallas that has since merged with K&L Gates. She also served as the president and CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) for 15 years, and worked as former Texas governor Rick Perry’s policy director. In 2018, Rollins was named an assistant to the president for intergovernmental and technology initiatives and director of the Office of American Innovation. She held these positions until May 2020, when Trump appointed her director of the Domestic Policy Council until the end of his first administration.
After Trump left office in 2021, Rollins co-founded the AFPI alongside former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow. Rollins has served as the AFPI’s president and CEO since its inception. She also rejoined the TPPF board of directors in April 2021.
Policy History
During her first year in the Trump administration, Rollins reportedly helped with the First Steps Act — a bill which overhauled the criminal justice system and was signed into law in December 2018.
While Rollins was at the TPPF, the organization pushed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act along with influencing various other conservative policy initiatives in Texas.
In her role at the AFPI, Rollins and the organization were involved heavily with the Trump 2024 campaign on policy issues. The organization has published an agenda on its website with 10 “pillars,” and states that “American citizens need policies that put them first instead of policies that stand in their way.” There is little information on the AFPI website or in the nonprofit’s agenda about how AFPI views agriculture policy — other than statements calling for the banning of Chinese ownership of U.S. farmland. Rollins’ ag policy experience compared to other members of the Trump team’s shortlist for USDA leadership led to intense “jockeying” over the role up until the Saturday announcement, Politico reported.
If confirmed, Rollins will oversee the USDA’s $430 billion yearly budget and its heavy input on the food industry. As agriculture secretary, Rollins may work closely with Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is expected to have heavy input on the food and agriculture industries if he is confirmed.
