President-elect Donald Trump announced Saturday that he nominated Brooke Rollins, a Class of 1994 Texas A&M graduate, to join his administration as secretary of agriculture. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she will lead the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, and join Trump’s cabinet.
“Brooke’s commitment to support the American Farmer, defense of American Food Self-Sufficiency, and the restoration of Agriculture-dependent American Small Towns is second to none,” Trump said in his Saturday statement. “ … As our next Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke will spearhead the effort to protect American Farmers, who are truly the backbone of our Country. Congratulations Brooke!”
Rollins graduated from A&M with a bachelor of science in agriculture development in 1994. That same year, she became the university’s first female student body president after claiming 61% of the student vote.
“I do not want to be remembered as the first woman president,” Rollins said in an article published in The Battalion’s April 4, 1994 print edition. “I want to be remembered as the best student body president ever.”
After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law, she briefly worked as an attorney in private practice before joining Rick Perry’s staff, Texas’s then-governor and a Class of 1972 Aggie. Rollins eventually became his policy director.
She left his office in 2003 to lead the Texas Public Policy Foundation, or TPPF, a conservative think tank that at the time was “operating on a shoestring budget and struggling to find a foothold in Austin’s political establishment,” according to POLITICO.
Texas Observer reported that under Rollins, the think tank became “a bedrock institution of the Texas right, with 40 employees, an annual budget of $4.5 million, and the fealty of top-shelf conservative politicians.”
In 2007, Rollins again made history by becoming the first woman to speak at Muster.
“I think whether being a woman or man, the opportunity to return to campus and be a part of, in my opinion, A&M’s highest and most important tradition, is an honor for anyone,” Rollins said in an archived article of The Battalion published on April 20, 2007.
She joined Trump’s Economic Advisory Council to advise his first presidential campaign in 2016. But only two years later did she leave TPPF to join Trump’s administration.
Appointed as the director of the Office of American Innovation, an office made just one year earlier, she used her power to push for criminal justice reform, a charge that eventually culminated in a set of bi-partisan reforms aimed at lowering the federal prison population. She stayed in her position until Trump appointed her as acting director of the Domestic Policy Council in 2020, and she served there until he left office in January 2021.
Following the president-elect’s 2020 electoral defeat, Rollins and Fox News commentator Larry Kudlow founded the America First Policy Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that has been described by The New York Times as the president-elect’s “primary partner” in crafting a second term in office. Rollins, the think tank’s president and CEO, said during an April 12 discussion that the institute had drafted nearly 300 executive orders ready for Trump should he win the election. Months later, he did.
The 52-year-old was considered for chief of staff until the job eventually went to Susie Wiles, Trump’s co-campaign manager. Nineteen days after the election, he tapped Rollins. In his statement, he said she did “an incredible job” in the positions she worked during his first term in office.
“In these roles, she helped develop and manage the transformational Domestic Policy Agenda of my Administration,” Trump said in his statement.
Her official appointment requires a majority vote in the U.S. Senate. Created in 1862, USDA employs nearly 100,000 people in 29 agencies dedicated to advancing various agricultural objectives, such as reducing food insecurity and promoting sustainable farming methods.
The announcement was met with positive reactions on social media, and multiple senators, representatives and other Trump appointees announced their support for Rollins, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, Rep. Mike Johnson, Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst.
“Aggieland is very proud of our own Brooke Rollins for her appointment to Secretary of Agriculture,” A&M System Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement. “From her time as student body president at Texas A&M University, she has shown remarkable leadership and interpersonal skills. We at the largest agriculture research university in the country could not be prouder of her.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick all congratulated her in posts on the social media platform X, as did the official account for A&M’s College of Agriculture & Life Sciences.
“MY PEOPLE,” Rollins posted on X in response. “[T]hank you for changing thousands of lives – including mine. Forever an Aggie and forever College of Ag & Life Sciences.”
