Skip to content
Wednesday, October 21, 2026MethodNewsletterAbout
The BaselineThe standard for political claims
Sign in
LatestNewsMidtermsBallotsTrump SocialPeopleVoices
More
EconomyElectionsHealthImmigrationClimateMethodTrackersPodcast
Quick find⌘K
Portrait of Howard Lutnick← All people
Administration

Howard Lutnick

Secretary of Commerce

Howard Lutnick is the Secretary of Commerce; the Senate confirmed him on February 18, 2025. He was previously chairman and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group and co-chaired the Trump-Vance transition team in 2024.

Public record

Office and sources

Office
Secretary of Commerce
Government
United States
Public role
Federal executive branch
Record includes
Source-linked checks, statements, and coverage
In office since
February 18, 2025
Education
Haverford College
  • The White House: The Cabinet ↗
  • Senate Commerce Committee: Sen. Cruz: Howard Lutnick Will Help to Unleash America’s Full Economic Potential ↗
  • Senate Commerce Committee: Cruz Congratulates Howard Lutnick on Senate Confirmation ↗
  • U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote 119th Congress, 1st Session, Vote 57 ↗
OverviewBiographyClaim checksCoverage
Background

Biography

Howard Lutnick was born and raised in New York and attended Haverford College, which the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee said at Lutnick’s confirmation hearing he paid for himself with the help of a scholarship from the school. He joined the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald in 1983 and became its president and chief executive at age 29. His White House biography says he served as chairman and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P. and BGC Group and as executive chairman of Newmark, and that he served on the boards of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and Weill Cornell Medicine.

During the 2024 presidential campaign he was co-chair of the Trump-Vance transition team. The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee advanced his nomination as Secretary of Commerce by a 16-12 vote, and the Senate confirmed him on February 18, 2025, by a vote of 51 to 45.

Sources for this biography

  • The White House: The Cabinet ↗
  • Senate Commerce Committee: Sen. Cruz: Howard Lutnick Will Help to Unleash America’s Full Economic Potential ↗
  • Senate Commerce Committee: Cruz Congratulates Howard Lutnick on Senate Confirmation ↗
  • U.S. Senate: Roll Call Vote 119th Congress, 1st Session, Vote 57 ↗

Drafted by The Baseline's automated desk from the sources listed and checked against them on Sep 19, 2026; no other source was used. Spot an error? Request a correction.

Voting record

This office does not cast congressional roll-call votes.

Secretary of Commerce is an executive office. The Baseline will not manufacture a congressional voting score for it; sourced checks, statements, and coverage appear below.

The Baseline desk

Published claim checks

Claim checks are reviewed editorial work. They are separate from the voting-data summaries above.

1 published check
1 Mostly True · what the verdicts mean
Economy

Deportations, not tariffs, impacted small business in the economic fallout.

Verdict: Mostly True
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick explicitly argued that a government shutdown and mass deportations, rather than tariffs, were responsible for the decline in small business jobs.The Baseline automated desk · Oct 4, 2026
Recent coverage

What is being reported

Current reporting about Howard Lutnick, gathered through Brave Search. Headlines and summaries belong to their publishers and are not Baseline verdicts.

thehill.comSep 30, 2026

Watch live: Trump, Lutnick to announce major US energy investments

Read the original report ↗
AboutMethodologyNewsMidterms 2026Ballot WatchTrump SocialTrackersPeopleVoicesSpeakersPodcastCorrectionsTransparencyAdvertiseNotesPrivacyTermsContactBack to top ↑
© 2026 The Baseline, published and edited by Cory Hepler. Every verdict cites its sources; automated checks are labeled until the editor has read them.Non-partisan in method · Press kit · RSS · Podcast RSS