'The 2 Kevins' and the other potential picks Trump could name to replace Jerome Powell

Sat, Aug 9, 2025, 2:21 PM 4 min read

• President Donald Trump has whittled down his list of potential replacements for Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

• Trump told reporters that "the Two Kevins" are among the leading names.

• Prediction markets have swung wildly on reports of potential developments.

President Donald Trump is ready to turn the page on Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump's endless stream of criticisms (and awkward face-to-face meeting) hasn't convinced the central bank to cut rates or change Powell's wait-and-see approach.

Amid the impasse, Trump is practically counting down the days until Powell's term is up.

Earlier this week, Trump said he had a shortlist of names to replace Powell, which included "the two Kevins," Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, and Kevin Warsh, a former member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

By the end of the week, prediction markets swung wildly based on reports that other names might be rising.

Here are the leading contenders so far

Christopher Waller

Fed Gov. Christopher Waller's chances appeared diminished when Trump praised "the Two Kevins" on August 5. But Waller's name rose to the top of leading prediction markets after Bloomberg News reported days later that he was emerging as the president's favorite.

Waller, a longtime regional Fed official, was seen as a convention pick when Trump nominated him to the central bank in 2019. Simultaneously, Trump also nominated Judy Shelton, a former campaign advisor and a Fed critic. The fight over Shelton's nomination soon seeped over onto Waller's.

In December 2020, the Senate confirmed Waller 48-47, the narrowest margin for any Fed governor since 1980, per The New York Times.

In July, Waller joined Gov. Michelle Bowman (another Trump first-term pick) in opposing the Fed's decision not to cut interest rates, the first dual dissent in more than 30 years.

Kevin Hassett

Before joining Trump's orbit, Hassett advised a succession of Republican presidential nominees on economic policy, including George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney.

During Trump's first term, Hassett served as director of the president's Council of Economic Advisors. He returned to the White House during the COVID-19 pandemic and was severely criticized for publishing a model showing coronavirus deaths hitting zero by May 15, 2020.

In October 1999, Hassett cowrote with journalist Jason Glassman "Dow 36,000: The New Strategy for Profiting From the Coming Rise in the Stock Market." Some economists have heavily criticized the book, largely because the index took more than 22 years to reach that threshold.