WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump is tapping a slate of loyal allies for plum federal government jobs after they lost races to Democrats in recent years partly due to their ties to Trump himself.

The picks include:

• Two former Georgia senators who lost their races in 2020 after promoting Trump’s false claims that he won the last election. David Perdue, who went on to lose the 2022 primary for governor while echoing Trump’s election denial, is tapped to be ambassador to China. Kelly Loeffler has been picked to lead the Small Business Administration.
• Trump’s handpicked Georgia Senate candidate in 2022, former football player Herschel Walker, was tapped late Tuesday to be ambassador to the Bahamas. Walker ran as a MAGA protégé and lost, but he has remained a steadfast supporter of Trump. 
• Mehmet Oz, the doctor and TV personality whom Trump elevated to run for Senate in Pennsylvania two years ago, has been selected to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• Kari Lake, the Trump ally who lost races in Arizona for governor in 2022 and for Senate in 2024, has been chosen to run Voice of America, an international news broadcaster backed by U.S. funding.
• Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore. — who lost re-election to a Democrat who linked her to Trump and derisively told voters she was “standing by her man” — was chosen for labor secretary.
• Doug Collins, the pro-Trump former congressman who lost a Georgia jungle primary to Loeffler in 2020, has been tapped to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Lee Zeldin, the Trump-aligned former New York congressman who lost his race for governor in 2022, has been selected to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

For Trump the overriding philosophy behind such picks comes down to one word: loyalty.

He has long held a high regard for those who are politically loyal to him, a dynamic that is reappearing now as he builds his second administration. Among close allies, there is little surprise.

“He values loyalty, hard stop. At times, beyond all else. We were not surprised by anyone you mentioned was picked,” a Trump ally familiar with the transition process said. “They are not only qualified for the positions they are nominated for, but have shown great loyalty to President Trump. He’s trying to change Washington and wants people who he knows he can trust.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., said the former and future president is rewarding loyalists and trying to signal to Republicans, “‘Don’t cross me if you’re in the Congress.’ Because he remembers.”

But he wondered whether Trump is selecting the best and brightest.

“I don’t know why you’d want a Cabinet full of electoral losers,” Swalwell said in an interview.

Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., said Trump — and the senators who will have to approve the nominees — should put competence first.

“I cannot begin to get in the mind of Trump, but it certainly seems from the outside that this is a way to keep people who were close to him, who took a stand for him, within the inner circle,” Scholten said. “I’m glad that we have a vetting process in the Senate, because these are positions of incredible trust, and we need to make sure that we’re not only rewarding political loyalty here. … We need the most competent person for the job in these roles.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, defended the Trump picks.

“I’m glad he’s taking advantage of some of the talent that’s out there,” he said. “And so I’m encouraged by that.”

Trump’s decisions to elevate those figures empower proven loyalists and come with a catch: Those who dared to challenge Trump have been frozen out or passed over — most notably Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador during Trump’s first term who then challenged him for the Republican presidential nomination, and Mike Pompeo, who served as Trump’s secretary of state but is now viewed by many in the MAGA movement as disloyal to Trump and faced withering public criticisms from many Trump supporters and a behind-the-scenes lobbying effort from Donald Trump Jr. to keep him out of a second administration.

“I will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is currently in formation,” Trump announced on his social media platform a few days after the election, amid speculation.

The planned Trump nominees who have recently lost elections have easily checked the loyalty box; some count themselves among Trump’s most vocal advocates.

Lake most notably became one of the most enduring voices pushing the falsehood that Trump won the 2020 election, and over the 2024 election period was a mainstay at Mar-a-Lago, regularly posting on social media about her visits to West Palm Beach. 

At times, her presence was so consistent that she began to wear out her welcome even with Trump’s own advisers. 

“At the end of the day, those are not the sort of things that will end a relationship with Trump,” the Trump ally said of reporting throughout this year that Trump urged her to leave Mar-a-Lago to do more campaigning for her own Senate race in Arizona.

The loyalty test is also a way past Trump political foes have used to get back into his good graces — and his second administration.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is Trump’s pick to serve as secretary of state even after the two had a bruising primary fight in 2016. Trump and Rubio regularly sparred, with Trump dubbing the senior Florida senator “Little Marco,” and Rubio making an off-color joke about Trump’s hand size.

Since that race, Rubio recalibrated to become a vocal Trump ally, in the process re-establishing his standing with both Trump world and the MAGA movement at large.

“He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries,” Trump said in November when announcing Rubio as his pick to lead the State Department. 

Zeldin, the former New York congressman, stands out from the underperforming Republican picks because he overperformed, coming within 7 points of victory in the gubernatorial race in the solidly blue state.

In other cases, Trump’s choices appear more transactional, such as the choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy, a scion of the storied Democratic family, ran in the Democratic 2024 primary before launching an independent bid and ultimately dropping out to endorse Trump.

“There is very little that someone can do to Trump, even if they were once political enemies, that can’t be fixed by showing that you are committed to his message and his movement,” the Trump ally said, adding that after his victory “I think he has every right to expect that sort of loyalty for those around him.”