--- title: Barack Obama to Nominate Eric Holder Successor After Midterm Elections description: Senate Democrats feared a confirmation vote right before Election Day canonical: https://time.com/3506778/barack-obama-eric-holder-midterm-elections/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-14T16:59:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:46:40.881Z article:section: Politics og:title: Barack Obama to Nominate Eric Holder Successor After Midterm Elections og:description: Senate Democrats feared a confirmation vote right before Election Day og:url: https://time.com/3506778/barack-obama-eric-holder-midterm-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Barack Obama to Nominate Eric Holder Successor After Midterm Elections twitter:description: Senate Democrats feared a confirmation vote right before Election Day twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Obama to Wait Until After Election to Nominate Next Attorney General by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 14, 2014 4:59 PM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 14, 2014 4:59 PM UTC President Barack Obama will wait until after the midterm elections to nominate his next Attorney General, a White House official confirmed Tuesday. Obama has been weighing whether to nominate a replacement for departing Attorney General Eric Holder before November’s election, after the White House announced last month that Obama’s longtime confidant decided to step down. But nominating a candidate before the midterm elections would have complicated the reelection campaigns of vulnerable Senate Democrats who are trying to separate themselves from the unpopular president, with lawmakers being called to state their support for or opposition to Obama’s selection before voters determine the balance of control in the Senate. Obama is expected to unveil his selection shortly after the election. Among those up for consideration for the post, according to Democrats, are White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3506778/barack-obama-eric-holder-midterm-elections/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3506778/barack-obama-eric-holder-midterm-elections/"},"headline":"Obama to Wait Until After Election to Nominate Next Attorney General","datePublished":"2014-10-14T16:59:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:46:40.881Z","description":"Senate Democrats feared a confirmation vote right before Election Day","url":"https://time.com/3506778/barack-obama-eric-holder-midterm-elections/","keywords":["justice"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/justice/","name":"justice"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3506778/barack-obama-eric-holder-midterm-elections/","name":"Obama to Wait Until After Election to Nominate Next Attorney General"}}]}] ```