Biden taps Buttigieg for transportation, Granholm for energy

FILE - In this April 29, 2019 file photo, then Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from South Bend, Indiana, listens during a lunch meeting with civil rights leader Rev. Al Sharpton at Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem neighborhood of New York. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg to head the transportation department. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden is nominating his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation and intends to choose former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm as energy secretary.

Granholm’s intended nomination was confirmed to The Associated Press by two people familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid preempting the president-elect’s announcement.

Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet post. Granholm served as Michigan’s attorney general and two terms as Michigan governor. Biden also picked former environmental regulator Gina McCarthy for the powerful new position of domestic climate chief.