South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a Saturday 59-34 vote.
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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to lead the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in a 59-34 vote Saturday.
Noem received a relatively less-dramatic confirmation compared to Friday’s vote on combat veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense (DOD), which required a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance to give Hegseth the win.
As DHS Secretary, Noem will have several agencies including the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under her purview.
The 53-year-old politician, who previously served four terms as the U.S. representative from South Dakota’s at-large congressional district, thanked President Donald Trump in an X post for placing “confidence” in her to lead such a major department immediately after she was confirmed:
Six Democrats crossed party lines to confirm Noem: Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), according to Fox News’ Chad Pergram.
When announcing his nomination of Noem in November, Trump said she “will be a great part of our mission to Make America Safe Again.”
“Kristi has been very strong on Border Security. She was the first Governor to send National Guard Soldiers to help Texas fight the Biden Border Crisis, and they were sent a total of eight times,” Trump said at the time. “She will work closely with ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to secure the Border, and will guarantee that our American Homeland is secure from our adversaries.”
Sen. Peters, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland and Government Affairs Committee, said he was backing her due to her willingness to work “on a bipartisan basis.”
“During her confirmation hearing, I pressed Governor Noem to set aside partisan ideologies and to follow the facts when it comes to the threats our communities face – whether we’re talking about securing our borders, foreign and domestic terrorism, or even increasingly devastating natural disasters,” he said in a statement obtained by The Hill when Noem advanced out of committee.
“Given her openness to working on a bipartisan basis to address these and other threats to our homeland security, I voted to advance her nomination out of committee and send it to the Senate floor for consideration,” Peters added.
