(Bloomberg) -- Allies of Republican Representative Mark Meadows are pressing for him to be Donald Trump’s new chief of staff as the White House weighed other serious contenders, including U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, for the vital leadership post.

The search for a successor to departing chief of staff John Kelly began to take shape on Monday as White House officials sought to minimize the chaos after Trump’s top choice -- Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff, Nick Ayers -- turned down the job two days after the president announced Kelly’s exit.

Budget director Mick Mulvaney, another candidate Trump has weighed, let White House aides know he definitely doesn’t want the job. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin also told White House officials Monday he is committed to his current job. Picking Mnuchin would come with a price: another confirmation battle to replace him at Treasury while the Senate is already gearing up for a fight to confirm William Barr as the next attorney general.

Other than Meadows and Lighthizer, the people Trump is actively weighing include Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker; former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; and David Bossie, a former Trump deputy campaign manager and long-time conservative political operative.

The selection process was described by several people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity. No candidate is a clear favorite, and Trump is famous for changing his mind.

Lighthizer was at the White House on Monday, two people said. He met with Ayers to discuss trade and other matters, one of the people said. But moving him into the post also could be disruptive since he is leading sensitive trade negotiations with China.

Meanwhile, allies of Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, worked behind the scenes to make the case for the North Carolina congressman. Meadows issued a public statement Monday tantamount to declaring his interest in the job.

“Serving as chief of staff would be an incredible honor,” Meadows said. “The president has a long list of qualified candidates and I know he’ll make the best selection for his administration and for the country.”

Meadows has been playing a leading role among House Republicans, recently penning a confidential memo to his colleagues about how to counter Democratic subpoenas and impeachment talk when they take over as the majority party next month. Meadows hasn’t spoken directly with the president since Ayers’s withdrawal on Sunday.

Allies of Meadows have broached the idea of Meadows taking on the chief of staff role as a duo with Bossie acting as a second-in-command.

But Meadows has drawbacks. He has been a polarizing figure even among congressional Republicans and has developed an antagonistic relationship with the party leaders the White House needs to work with in the Capitol. He is seen as someone likely to encourage Trump’s more extreme views.

Just last month, Meadows was rebuked by the House Ethics Committee, which said he had failed "to take prompt and decisive action to deal with the alleged sexual harassment” by a former chief of staff.

Meadows was not accused of harassment. But the committee found that while he banned the man from his Washington office after learning of accusations by female staffers in 2014, he kept him on his office payroll until firing him four months later. Meadows was ordered to reimburse the U.S. Treasury more than $40,000.

The president is under pressure to act quickly. Any vacuum in the White House’s top management job risks encouraging the return of internal strife. Trump’s administration is characterized by independent-minded senior officials and an improvisational president who relies on a network of friends and outside advisers for counsel.

The clumsy handling of the transition so far is coming into sharper focus. Ayers, 36, was part of the team that delivered the news to Kelly that Trump wanted the retired Marine general to leave, according a person familiar with the matter.

Trump met with Kelly to inform him shortly before a White House dinner for senior staff Friday evening, with Pence and Ayers joining the two partway through their meeting, the person said. Trump announced Kelly’s departure to reporters the next morning only to have his preferred successor pull out by Sunday because Ayers was unwilling to commit to stay through the president’s re-election.

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.