While many have been met with widespread approval, Trump’s recent Cabinet-level announcements are causing some consternation among Republicans on Capitol Hill.
None more so than former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, whom the president-elect tapped as his attorney general.
Other controversial nominees that could also face Senate confirmation battles include Fox News host Pete Hegseth, whom Trump nominated as his secretary of defense, ex-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
But not all of Trump’s nominees are guaranteed for a contentious battle, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who is up for secretary of state and will likely breeze through confirmation. And if Trump doesn’t get his way, he’s already looking at pressuring Senate Republicans to use recess appointments to bypass confirmations.
As Trump tries to shore up support for his picks, the Washington Examiner grouped the Cabinet nominees according to which ones would be the hardest to confirm in the Senate.
The nominee who faces the hardest battle
Before resigning from Congress hours after his nomination was announced, Gaetz was well known for his firebrand antics. Gaetz was the key ringleader in ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from office.
But his most challenging path to confirmation is the aftermath of the three-year Department of Justice sex-trafficking investigation allegedly involving a minor that ended in 2023 without any charges against Gaetz, who has denied any wrongdoing.
Gaetz also faced a separate House Ethics Committee investigation that culminated in a report that has not been released due to his resignation from Congress, which ended the inquiry. Several Republican lawmakers have called for the Ethics Committee report to be released before voting on his confirmation, which remains dim.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) was one of several GOP lawmakers who cast doubt that Gaetz would become the next attorney general. “I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for the attorney general,” she said.
Betting markets, which accurately called the election for Trump, are also putting Gaetz’s chances of confirmation on the low end. Polymarket rates his chances at 31%, far below any other nominee.
Trump and Gaetz have spent recent days calling Republican senators of the Judiciary Committee to pressure them to vote for the confirmation, while Vice President-elect J.D. Vance is reportedly arranging meetings between lawmakers and Gaetz.
“Matt just wanted to introduce himself,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) said about a call he received from Gaetz. “I assured him, of course, he’ll get a fair shake, and I congratulated him.”
The candidates who might have a rocky road ahead
Kennedy became a top Trump surrogate after ending his 2024 bid, which earned him the top position as HHS secretary.
But Kennedy is not a medical doctor, has never served in office, and has a penchant for spreading conspiracy theories. He has also voiced skepticism against the COVID-19 vaccine and has some pro-abortion rights stances that several conservatives are blanching at.
Democratic-aligned healthcare advocacy groups are plotting how to block Kennedy’s nomination. They are targeting centrist lawmakers such as Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Murkowski, as well as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC).
Yet some Republican senators are excited about his possible new role. “When he called me up asking, for example, his chances of confirmation, first words out of my mouth: ‘Bobby, this is the answer to my prayers,’ and I sincerely believe that,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told reporters. Polymarket rates his chances of passing through the Senate at 79%.
Similarly, Hegseth’s path to confirmation may face problems due to his lack of experience leading an agency as large as the Defense Department. Despite his experience as a decorated veteran, he has not served in a senior defense role. Polymarket rates his chances of passing through the Senate at 76%.
Hegseth is also facing sexual assault allegations that could cause problems come January. Hegseth paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault through a nondisclosure agreement, but his lawyer said the encounter between the two was consensual, according to the Washington Post.
Gabbard’s announcement as Trump’s nominee for director of national intelligence was immediately met with some disagreement from conservatives wary of her past sympathies for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Her detractors also singled out her 2017 visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad as another reason she shouldn’t be confirmed.
But few Republican senators have come out against voting for her confirmation. “I don’t know her at all so it would be premature for me to reach a judgment, but those are questions that I would want to ask her,” Collins told Jewish Insider.
“She’ll be scrutinized,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said. “But I would imagine she’d get confirmed. We got 53 votes.”
Polymarket rates her chances of passing through the Senate at 78%.
Some will grumble, but these candidates will likely sail through
Sean Duffy’s biggest criticism is his lack of experience if he were to be confirmed as transportation secretary.
Duffy is a former representative of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District, has appeared on several reality TV shows, and is a co-host of The Bottom Line on Fox Business along with his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy.
Despite the lack of qualifications, Duffy has not faced opposition as much as some other candidates.
“Transportation policy has a long bipartisan history, and I look forward to continuing to maintain the tradition under Former Representative Sean Duffy’s leadership and working together to pass the next surface transportation authorization, creating more jobs, if he is confirmed as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation,” Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA), the ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, said.
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) may have lost out on a vice presidential role within the Trump administration because of her jarring anecdote of killing her family dog, but she nonetheless got a spot as Trump’s nominee for secretary of homeland security.
As head of the Department of Homeland Security, Noem would be in charge of protecting the nation from a wide range of threats, including securing the United States from the rise of illegal immigration. Yet Noem doesn’t have direct experience working on the southern border, although that likely won’t stop Republican senators from confirming her.
As one House member put it bluntly, “If Donald Trump says jump 3 feet high and scratch your head, we all jump 3 feet high and scratch our head,” Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) said to reporters.
Once a former GOP presidential rival to Trump, Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) is now Trump’s pick to be the secretary of the Department of the Interior. Burgum will also head up the National Energy Council, a newly created agency.
Burgum has the support of industry groups and Republican senators who welcomed his work to establish U.S. “energy dominance.”
“He recognizes how important our federal lands are for energy and mineral production, grazing, and recreation,” Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee ranking member John Barrasso (R-WY) said in a statement. “As North Dakota’s governor, he’s shown he can balance environmental stewardship with record energy development.”
Trump also tapped Air Force Reserve chaplain and former Georgia Rep. Doug Collins to be head of the Department of Veteran Affairs. While in Congress, Collins did not serve on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, but he was a staunch conservative, gaining approval from groups such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America.
Chris Wright, Liberty Energy’s CEO, is also Trump’s pick for secretary of the Department of Energy, and he will be a member of the Council of National Energy. He had denied the effects of climate change, but that likely won’t stop confirmation.
Those who have been largely praised
Former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin, Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Trump’s pick as the U.S. ambassador to Israel, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Trump’s potential ambassador to the United Nations, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Trump’s secretary of state nominee, have generally received wide approval from the GOP.
Rubio has even received praise from Democratic lawmakers, which bodes well for his confirmation.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), a left-leaning lawmaker, praised Rubio’s selection on social media after his nomination was announced.
“Unsurprisingly, the other team’s pick will have political differences than my own,” he wrote on X. “That being said, my colleague @SenMarcoRubio is a strong choice and I look forward to voting for his confirmation.”
Stefanik’s performance during House hearings on college antisemitism brought her more star power as college presidents resigned from their positions. She’ll likely take her strong defense of Israel to the U.N. once she is confirmed.
Elon Musk’s favorites
Tech billionaire Elon Musk threw his hat in the ring for Howard Lutnick, the billionaire CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-transition team lead, to become Trump’s treasury secretary over hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change,” Musk wrote on X, the social media website that he owns.
However, Trump nominated Lutnick as his commerce secretary on Tuesday after the president-elect grew weary of Musk and Lutnick’s pressure campaign. Despite Musk’s integration into Trump’s inner circle after spending $100 million to boost Trump’s reelection, Trump appears to be calling the shots.
Before the treasury secretary scuffle, Musk posted his support for Gabbard’s DNI nomination and championed Gaetz on X.
“Matt Gaetz has 3 critical assets that are needed for the AG role: a big brain, a spine of steel and an axe to grind,” Musk wrote. “He is the Judge Dredd America needs to clean up a corrupt system and put powerful bad actors in prison.”
“Gaetz will be our Hammer of Justice,” he continued.
Musk, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, will co-lead the Department of Government Efficiency as a reward for his work in getting Trump to a second White House term.
David Sivak, Ramsey Touchberry, and Samanatha-Jo Roth contributed to this report.
