Match The 2021 Biden Cabinet Trivia Quiz

Answer: Antony Blinken

Blinken (born 4-16-1962) served as Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama Administration. He has close ties to Biden, serving as National Security Advisor to the Vice President.

Blinken is a graduate of Harvard (BA) and Columbia Law School. He was a member of the National Security Council in the Clinton administration (1994-2001).

Answer: Janet Yellen

Yellen (born 8-13-1946) was the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve (2014-2018).

She is an economist with degrees from Brown and Yale (PhD). She started her career at Harvard before moving to the University of California at Berkeley. She served on the Federal Reserve Board and Council of Economic Advisors during the Clinton administration.

Answer: Lloyd Austin

Lloyd James Austin III (born 8-08-1953) was the first African-American commander of US Central Command. He retired from the military in 2016 as a four star general. During his career, Austin was the commander of US Armed Forces in Iraq during the withdrawal in 2010-2011, and Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army. He graduated from West Point in 1975 and has two Masters degrees.

Answer: Merrick Garland

Garland (born 11-13-1952) is most notable as being the Supreme Court nominee of Barack Obama who was denied a hearing. A graduate of Harvard (BA and Law School), Garland started his legal career in the Justice Department in the Carter administration. He was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for Washington DC by Bill Clinton in 1999, and was Chief Judge from 2013 to 2020.

Answer: Deb Haaland

Debra Anne Haaland (born 12-02-1960) was elected as US Representative from New Mexico's First District in 2018. Prior to that, she had been chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and the Chairwoman of the Laguna Pueblo tribe. Haaland earned both her BA and law degree from the University of New Mexico. Haaland was the first Native American to head the Department of the Interior, which contains the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Answer: Tom Vilsack

Thomas Vilsack (born 12-13-1950) served as Secretary of Agriculture in the Obama administration (2009-2017), the longest serving member of the cabinet. Vilsack was Governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007, and made a failed bid for the presidency in 2008. He is a graduate of Hamilton College and Albany Law School.

Answer: Gina Raimondo

Raimondo (born 4-17-1971) was elected Governor of Rhode Island in 2014. She is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard, with a degree in Economics. She was a Rhodes Scholar and has a doctorate from Oxford and a law degree from Yale. Raimondo spent about a decade as a venture capitalist before becoming Treasurer of Rhode Island in 2010.

Answer: Marty Walsh

Walsh (born 4-10-1967) was elected Mayor of Boston in 2013. Walsh got his BA from Boston College in 2009. For 15 years, Walsh was president of a Labourer's Union local in Boston and rose to become head of the Boston Building Trades Council. From 1997 to 2014, Walsh also served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He stepped down when he became Mayor in 2014.

Answer: Xavier Becerra

Xavier Becerra (born 1-26-1958) served in the US House from 1993 to 2917 before taking Kamala Harris's place as Attorney General in 2017. He received both his BA and Law Degree from Stanford University. During much of his tenure in Congress, Becerra served on the Ways and Means Committee.

Answer: Marcia Fudge

Marcia Louise Fudge (born 10-29-1952) has represented the Cleveland area in the House of Representatives since 2009. Prior to that she was mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio. She is a graduate of Ohio State and earned her law degree from Cleveland State University. A long time member of the House Agriculture Committee, Fudge was angling to be Secretary of Agriculture.

Answer: Pete Buttigieg

Buttigieg (born 1-19-1982) was the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana from 2012 to 2020. Buttigieg came out as gay in 2015; he married his husband Chasten in 2018. He performed quite well in the 2020 presidential election, tying Bernie Sanders in Iowa and finishing second in New Hampshire. Buttigieg is a graduate of Harvard and a Rhodes Scholar, and speaks seven languages.

Answer: Jennifer Granholm

Granholm (born 2-05-1959) was a two term governor of Michigan (2003-2011) after serving as the state's Attorney General (1999-2003). She was born in Vancouver, and therefore is ineligible to serve as President. Granholm is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and got her law degree at Harvard (with honors), where she was a classmate of Michelle Obama (but not Barack).

Answer: Miguel Cardona

Cardona (born 7-11-1975) was appointed Connecticut Commissioner of Education in 2019. A graduate of Central Connecticut State (BA) and the University of Connecticut (MA, EdD), Cardona started his career as a fourth grade teacher before becoming the youngest principal in Connecticut at age 28. Throughout his career, Cardona has focused on the needs of English language learners.
Fun Fact: His wife Marissa won Miss Connecticut in 2001.

Answer: Denis McDonough

McDonough (born 12-02-1969) is a veteran of the Obama administration, serving as Chief of Staff (2013-2017) and Deputy National Security Advisor (2010-2013). A native of Minnesota, he is a graduate of Saint John's University (BA in History and Spanish) and has a Masters in Foreign Policy from Georgetown. He had the good fortune to join Senator Barack Obama's staff in 2007, and served as a foreign policy advisor during the presidential campaign.

Answer: Alejandro Mayorkas

Mayorkas (born 11-24-1959) is a veteran of the Obama administration, serving as Deputy Secretary at Homeland Security (2013-16) and Director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009-2013). In 1998, he was named US Attorney for the Central District of California by President Clinton, the youngest US Attorney in the county at the time.

Mayorkas was born in Havana and grew up in Miami and Los Angeles. He graduated from the University of California-Berkeley and Loyola Law School.