The Movement: Where the GOP-labor relationship goes after Chavez-DeRemer’s exit

Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s exit as Labor secretary last week amid a wave of misconduct allegations is raising questions about the fledgling coalition between Republicans and labor.

The next moves from the administration and from Republicans more broadly will determine whether the political alliance and appeal to union workers that boosted President Trump in 2024 has fizzled out, or if it has just been dialed back to a slow burn that gradually builds into broader GOP embrace of pro-labor positions. 

After talking to several people on both sides of the labor issue in recent days — some of whom asked not to be named to speak candidly — it is clear that Trump has an opportunity to make a big symbolic gesture in naming Chavez-DeRemer’s replacement, if he wants to.

Trump’s nomination of Chavez-DeRemer to lead the Department of Labor was seen as a major signal of his warming to unions and the labor movement, and a win for the “New Right” populist faction of the GOP that takes a more pro-worker, protectionist view of labor. 

The one-term moderate was one of only three House Republicans to co-sponsor the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act that was championed by Democrats. The Teamsters supported the pick, and the AFL-CIO was “encouraged” by her confirmation. The National Right to Work Committee, which has long aligned with Republicans and battled unions, opposed her nomination.

The nomination, though, was largely symbolic. Now-Acting Secretary Keith Sonderling, who until last week was the deputy secretary, was reportedly running the bulk of the day-to-day operations. Many contentious labor issues are before the National Labor Relations Board rather than subject to the DOL.

Sohrab Ahmari, the U.S. editor at UnHerd and a prominent voice on the New Right, expressed disappointment last week that Chavez-DeRemer didn’t do more on labor policy during her time as secretary beyond “giving her social-media staffers free rein to post ‘based and red-pilled’ memes on X featuring blond-haired, squared-jawed men in Fifties-style outfits, accompanied by calls to ‘BUILD YOUR HOMELAND’S FUTURE.’”

“Trump’s labor policy has been more libertarian and pro-business than George W. Bush’s,” Ahmari argued in his piece last week.

Others who supported Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination, though, don’t see it as quite that dire, and think the Trump administration has been friendlier to labor than Republicans past, even if it hasn’t issued the kind of sweeping policies that could be expected from a Democratic administration. 

And the union-friendly types don’t see Chavez-DeRemer’s departure — which came amid an investigation into an alleged affair with a member of her security detail and alleged drinking on the job — as a severe hit to the New Right or labor movement’s standing with the Trump administration.

One possibility is that Trump keeps Sonderling, who has a background in litigating labor and employment disputes, in place as the acting secretary for the rest of his term — as former President Biden did with former Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su for nearly two years. Sonderling seems to be respected by those on all sides of the debate. While the free-market faction sees him as largely adhering to their principles, the new right would not necessarily see keeping him in place as a slight.

Still, Trump could reaffirm the importance of labor to his political coalition — and set the tone for the 2028 Republican primary — in how he chooses to fill the Cabinet position, and if he picks a more explicitly union-friendly replacement. 

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, said that the Trump administration’s handling of the vacancy could be an indication of where Vice President Vance — who has been friendly to the “New Right” — could be going ahead of a potential 2028 bid.

“The filling of this position will give us an idea of where perhaps the Vance people are going, and where the Trump administration will find itself in the closing of his term,” Mix said.

Asked about the future of labor policy and the Cabinet position after Chavez DeRemer’s exit, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that Trump “has done more than any president in modern history to put American workers first.”

“Under the President’s bold leadership, critical and long-overdue reforms are being made to the H-1B visa process, America’s manufacturing industry is being reshored through powerful tariffs and trade deals, and illegal immigrants are no longer stealing taxpayer-funded benefits,” Rogers said. “Acting Secretary Sonderling is equipped and qualified to continue implementing the President’s pro-worker agenda at the Department of Labor.”

A White House official said that Trump will make a decision on the Labor secretary “in due time.” 

A more immediate indication of the Republican Party’s shifting relationship with labor might come in Congress rather from Trump. As I covered here at the time, four GOP rebels sank a slate of Republican labor bills in January — surprising GOP leadership and showcasing the shifting orthodoxy in the party.

The next battle might come soon with the Faster Labor Contracts Act, a bill pushed by the Teamsters and championed by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) in the Senate that would impose new, shorter requirements for first-contract negotiations for new unions. Right now, such negotiations can take years.

Last week, Rep. Donald Norcross (D-N.J.) — the bill’s lead sponsor in the House — started a discharge petition that could force a vote on the measure over the objections of leadership. It needs 218 signatures, meaning support from just a handful of Republicans, to meet that threshold to force a vote. The bill has 17 Republican cosponsors; so far, one — moderate Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) — has signed the discharge petition.

Jace White, manager of government relations at Advancing American Freedom, said that the bill has replaced the PRO Act as the top priority for unions. 

“We’re doing our part to encourage conservative members to not support this legislation, which constitutes a big overreach of the federal government into private sector labor relations,” White said of his think tank’s position.

Welcome to The Movement, a weekly newsletter looking at the influences and debates on the right in Washington. I’m Emily Brooks, House leadership reporter at The Hill. 

Send me tips, comments, and suggestions: ebrooks@thehill.com.

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MAKE DC SQUARE AGAIN?

Republicans are fuming after Virginia narrowly voted last week to amend the state constitution and adopt a redistricting plan that gives Democrats an edge in the state.

While some are finger-pointing over the national strategy and resources that went into the referendum fight, others are looking for ways to cast away the deepest-blue part of the state from the rest of Virginia — suggesting that Arlington County and what is now the bulk of the City of Alexandria be returned to the District of Columbia. The Virginia localities formally broke away from D.C. nearly 180 years ago.

“The proper response from Donald Trump to these Virginia shenanigans is to announce that the retrocession of Arlington and Alexandria to Virginia was unconstitutional and that they are and always will be part of the federal district,” posted Will Chamberlain of the Article III Project. (Phil Magness of the Independent Institute responded that the move would take an act of Congress to repeal an 1846 law.) 

It’s not just online chatter: Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) last week introduced the “Make DC Square Again ACT” to give Alexandria and Arlington back to D.C. 

Reality check: It took decades for the 19th Century Retrocession Act to gain enough steam to become law, and it’s very unlikely that this push goes anywhere fast. Plus, locals in Virginia might object to being subjected to higher tax rates, lack of representation and a swath of other issues that come with being part of the federal city.

Wednesday, April 29: Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America hosts a gala that will feature Sen. Ted Cruz.

Wednesday, May 20: The Freedom Conservatism Conference takes place in Washington, D.C. Details here.

Wednesday, June 3: The Tax Foundation and others host a “Tax Policy in a Competitive Global Economy” conference on Capitol Hill. Details here.

Tucker Carlson’s odds of becoming the Republican presidential nominee ticked up to 7.5% on Kalshi on Monday.

Undercover activist James O’Keefe he had his firearms confiscated by law enforcement last week before a Florida judge overturned a firearm ban on O’Keefe in connection with a restraining order dispute from a former board member of Project Veritas, which O’Keefe founded but has since left in a messy split.

Vice President Vance has “repeatedly questioned” the Department of Defense’s assessment of the war in Iran and whether the U.S. is running out of weapons, The Atlantic reports.

The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese: Inside The RNC’s Push To Stop Virginia Redistricting — And Why It Still Fell Short 

Tablet’s Park MacDougald: The “Retard Right” Is Not Stupid

Politico’s Grace Yarrow and Meredith Lee Hill: The MAHA revolt threatening the farm bill

New York Times’s Theodore Schleifer and Kate Conger: Sergey Brin Moves to the Right, With a ‘MAGA Girlfriend’ by His Side

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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