Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who took office in March 2025 with backing from organized labor despite being a Republican, has stepped down after just 13 months as Labor Secretary. The resignation came ahead of a bruising congressional hearing where Democrats were poised to grill her over multiple scandals involving workplace misconduct, her husband, and top aides.
Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling will serve as acting labor secretary, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung announced. He said Chavez-DeRemer would “be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector” and wrote on X that she had done “a phenomenal job” protecting American workers.
Chavez-DeRemer is the third Cabinet member to exit during President Donald Trump’s second term and the third consecutive woman to leave the administration’s top ranks.
Her attorney, Nick Oberheiden, insisted the resignation “is not the result of legal wrongdoings. It is a personal decision.” In a social media post, Chavez-DeRemer thanked Trump and said it had “been an honor and a privilege to serve in this historic Administration.”
However, she simultaneously claimed the allegations against her “have been peddled by high-ranked deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media.”
A former member of Congress from Oregon’s 5th District who lost her reelection bid in November 2024, Chavez-DeRemer was an unlikely choice for a Republican administration. Teamsters President Sean O’Brien pushed for her selection because she was one of the few Republicans who had supported the PRO Act, legislation intended to make unionizing easier. O’Brien had taken a prime-time speaking slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Confirmed by the Senate in March 2025, she became the first Cabinet secretary from Oregon since Neil Goldschmidt served under President Jimmy Carter. She was 58 at the time of her resignation.
Trouble began surfacing in January 2026 when the New York Post first reported on a whistleblower complaint filed against Chavez-DeRemer. The complaint alleged she drank alcohol in the office during work hours, fostered a hostile work environment, and was pursuing an extramarital relationship with a member of her security detail. That security guard was placed on leave in January and later resigned.
Two of Chavez-DeRemer’s top aides, Jihun Han and Rebecca Wright, were accused in the whistleblower complaint of fabricating official trips to cities where the secretary wanted to spend personal time, a practice the complaint called “travel fraud.” According to reports, Chavez-DeRemer had expressed interest in attending a UFC fight in Chicago, a Morgan Wallen concert, and visiting friends and family across the country, and reportedly asked staff to design work trips around those events. Both aides were placed on administrative leave in January and resigned in early March.
A third senior staff member, Melissa Robey, said in late March that she had been fired shortly after giving a four-hour interview to the Office of the Inspector General.
The secretary’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist from Portland, Oregon, had been barred from Labor Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., reporting revealed in February. At least two women who work at the agency accused him of sexual assault involving inappropriate touching. One D.C. Metropolitan Police Department report cited a female staffer reporting “sexual contact against her will” that allegedly occurred on Dec. 18 inside the department building.
Washington, D.C., police and federal prosecutors investigated but closed the case without bringing charges. The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, said, “Based upon the evidence presented to this office in relation to the video, there is no indication of a crime.” An attorney for Shawn DeRemer said he “categorically denies every allegation.” The allegations were later re-filed at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission along with workplace complaints.
Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, who had already been running much of the department’s day-to-day operations while Chavez-DeRemer conducted a 50-state “America at Work” listening tour, is being eyed as a potential permanent nominee. He brings nearly a decade of policy experience at the Department of Labor and the EEOC.
The White House faces a tricky confirmation battle, though. Any nominee must clear the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and the November midterms loom large. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., offered a blunt assessment of the outgoing secretary: “She demonstrated a lot of wisdom in resigning.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, was less diplomatic. Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure, she said, represented “a failure of leadership.”
