Virginia Politics

Youngkin nominates George ‘Bryan’ Slater as Virginia secretary of labor

By Teo Armus
Today at 5:50 p.m. EST

Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin (R) said on Thursday that he has chosen George “Bryan” Slater, a bureaucrat with years under Republican administrations in both Washington and Richmond, to serve as Virginia’s next secretary of labor.

Slater is closely associated with former governor Jim Gilmore (R), having served under Gilmore in the state’s attorney general office in the 1990s and then, once Gilmore became governor, as his secretary of administration. That experience is uncommon among Youngkin’s Cabinet picks, many of whom come from outside government.

As secretary of labor — a new position created last year — he will be tasked with overseeing a host of workforce development programs as well as the state’s unemployment agency, which had struggled with a flood of claims during the coronavirus pandemic. Republicans had opposed establishing the position.

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Slater most recently served under President Donald Trump, first in the U.S. Department of Transportation and then in the Department of Labor. He also has worked in the administrations of George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush.

By Teo Armus
Teo Armus covers politics, government and other regional issues in Arlington and Alexandria for The Washington Post. He joined The Post as a staff writer in 2019. Twitter https://twitter.com/teoarmus

ALERT

Youngkin names Bryan Slater, former Gilmore Cabinet official, as secretary of labor

Michael Martz 2 hrs ago

Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin has tapped Bryan Slater, a former Cabinet official under Gov. Jim Gilmore 20 years ago, as the new secretary of labor to fix problems at the Virginia Employment Commission and help recruit and train workers for important industries. ... Slater is the incoming governor’s choice to replace Megan Healy, who has served in the job since it was created on July 1. Previously, Healy had served as chief workforce adviser to Gov. Ralph Northam.

Slater served as secretary of administration under Gilmore, a Republican who left office in 2001, and most recently, in assistant secretary roles for labor and transportation under President Donald Trump. He also served as a White House liaison at the Department of Labor under President George W. Bush.

“Workforce development will play a crucial part of jumpstarting our economy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bryan’s experience and leadership will be critical to the development of talent, training of workers, and protection of Virginia’s right-to-work laws that will attract investment in Virginia,” Youngkin said in remarks that repeated political themes from his gubernatorial campaign.

The governor-elect made clear that Slater’s first job will be “fixing the Virginia Employment Commission and delivering results for the commonwealth.” ... The VEC has been under siege since the beginning of the pandemic, when more than 400,000 Virginians suddenly lost their jobs and the agency was deluged with nearly 2 million requests for unemployment assistance.

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mmartz@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6964

Staff writer Andrew Cain contributed to this report.