Which Latter-day Saints will get jobs in the Trump administration?

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To some small degree, Donald Trump owes Latter-day Saints for his victory. According to early exit polls, a majority of Latter-day Saint voters backed the president-elect, even as his support among the group lagged behind his 2020 figures. (My colleague Gitanjali Poonia has a great analysis of the polls here.)
The question, now, is if Trump will repay any Latter-day Saints for the favor.
Several Utahns are under “close consideration” for ambassadorships and other administration positions, according to a person aware of the conversations, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Sen. Mike Lee was rumored as a candidate for attorney general, both before and after Trump’s first pick — Gaetz — was up for consideration. Lee has shown little public interest in abandoning the Senate, though — Lee told my colleague Brigham Tomco that he is in frequent contact with Trump’s transition team, but he wants to stay. “I have the job I want,” Lee said. In the 119th Congress, Lee will chair the Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
One of his former congressional colleagues is reportedly getting a look: Chris Stewart, a U.S. representative from Utah until 2022, is under consideration to be secretary of the Air Force, Politico reported. Stewart is the chairman of the Utah Aerospace and Defense Association and a former Air Force officer.
Stewart was a candidate to serve as director of national intelligence, Politico reported, before Trump nominated former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to the post. Stewart was a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee before resigning in 2023 to help care for his wife. Stewart declined to comment.
The most senior Latter-day Saint official during Trump’s first term, Robert O’Brien, is still close with Trump and made appearances with him on the campaign trail. A reprise as national security adviser will not occur, though — Trump picked Rep. Mike Waltz, a Florida Republican and a U.S. Army colonel, for the job.
O’Brien, who served as Trump’s national security adviser from 2019 until the conclusion of the term, was also rumored as a potential secretary of state before Trump nominated Sen. Marco Rubio.
O’Brien heads an international consulting firm in partnership with Stewart, and a person close to O’Brien’s thinking said he was “satisfied” with his role in the private sector. O’Brien did not respond to a request for comment.
Carson Jorgensen, the former Utah Republican Party chair and gubernatorial candidate, is lobbying for a position as an “agricultural adviser” to Trump. An online petition is circulating that lays out Jorgensen’s qualifications for the role, and encourages Trump to add Jorgensen as a “vital asset” to his administration.
Jorgensen said he did not create the petition, but that it was created by other members of the “Protect American Lamb” project, an agricultural initiative that Jorgensen has helped with. Jorgensen noted there has been “no offer made” by the Trump transition team, though he has had “informal conversations” with members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s team, an honorary co-chair of Trump’s transition team and the nominee for secretary of Health and Human Services. An agricultural secretary nominee has not yet been announced.
Former Rep. Jason Chaffetz seems uninterested in a return to Washington: He has not had any conversations with Trump, “and he’s the only one who matters,” he said. Now a cable news commentator, Chaffetz said he is comfortable in his role. “I like my relationship with Fox News,” he said.
Layne Bangerter, a former official in the agriculture department and the Environmental Protection Agency during Trump’s first term, said he is “open and willing” to serve again.
“I have had people from the transition reach out to me, and I can’t say much more,” he said. “President Trump does not want people who are desk-hunters.”
Other names I’m told to watch: Gregory Smith and Marlon Bateman. Smith, who now serves as chief of staff to Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., was special assistant to the President in the Trump White House for two years. Bateman was chief of staff to the U.S. State Department’s Office of Policy and Planning under Trump, and helped organize the “Latter-day Saints for Trump” coalition in 2024. Smith, when reached via text, said, “Planning to stay where I am!” Bateman could not be reached for comment.