U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue as his nominee to lead the Department of Agriculture.
The nomination, announced Thursday, fills the last remaining hole in Trump's desired Cabinet.
Trump's transition team announced many of the nominations weeks ago, and Senate committees have been holding hearings to question the nominees. Perdue, like the others, will need to be approved by a vote in the full Senate.
"Sonny Perdue is going to accomplish great things as Secretary of Agriculture,” said Trump in a statement Thursday. “From growing up on a farm to being governor of a big agriculture state, he has spent his whole life understanding and solving the challenges our farmers face, and he is going to deliver big results for all Americans who earn their living off the land.”
The 70-year-old Perdue was a member of Trump's transition advisory committee.
He is a former Democrat who changed parties 20 years ago before becoming the first Republican elected governor of Georgia in more than 100 years. While governor, his state experienced a harsh drought, and in addition to cutting water usage he led a service outside the state capitol to pray for rain.
Perdue also has experience in the grain business, and earned a doctorate in vetinary medicine.
Some material for this report came from AP and Reuters.
