Pete Hegseth will be the next secretary of defense after Vice President JD Vance cast a historic vote to save his confirmation when Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rejected the nominee at the last hour.
The turbulent nomination threatened to split Republicans on one of President Donald Trump’s most consequential Cabinet picks and sets up a tense future as McConnell surprised his conference in voting “no” a day after supporting moving the process forward.
In a vote that fell mostly along party lines, the upper chamber voted 51-50 to confirm Hegseth to run the Pentagon and its sprawling, $840 billion budget.
McConnell, the former GOP leader, emerged as a surprise “no” vote on Friday, joining Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) in opposition. Their defections forced Vance to travel to the Capitol to cast his first tiebreaker as vice president.
McConnell issued a lengthy statement defending his rejection of Hegseth, highlighting the charged geopolitical moment and the “gravest threats to U.S. national security interests since World War II.”
Despite his distinguished military record, McConnell said he didn’t believe Hegseth had proved to senators that he had the skills to steward the “complex bureaucracy” that supports the armed services.
“Mere desire to be a ‘change agent’ is not enough to fill these shoes. And ‘dust on boots’ fails even to distinguish this nominee from multiple predecessors of the last decade,” McConnell wrote. “Nor is it a precondition for success. Secretaries with distinguished combat experience and time in the trenches have failed at the job.”
For weeks, Hegseth’s nomination seemed tenuous as he faced allegations of sexual assault, alcohol abuse, and financial mismanagement, but Republicans eventually coalesced behind him in what amounted to one of the first stress tests of their new Senate majority.
Hegseth has denied all allegations.
“Mr. Hegseth will bring a warrior’s perspective to the role of defense secretary and will provide much-needed fresh air at the Pentagon,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said ahead of the vote. “Gone will be the days of woke distractions. The Pentagon’s focus will be on war-fighting.”
Murkowski and Collins expressed concern that Hegseth lacked the requisite experience to lead the Pentagon, pointing to his alleged mismanagement of two veterans organizations. He is a former Fox News personality and Army veteran who earned two Bronze Stars.
And McConnell questioned Hegseth’s focus on cultural battles within the Department of Defense, warning that the “restoration of a ‘warrior culture’ will not come from trading one set of culture warriors for another.”
Also of concern were his comments that women should not serve in combat roles, a position he reversed as he made his way through the confirmation process.
Democrats uniformly opposed Hegseth’s nomination after lending bipartisan support to Trump’s first two Cabinet picks.
“He has neither the character, the experience, or the judgment required by the job,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in Friday floor remarks. “If there is one word that should never describe a secretary of defense, in this important position, it is ‘erratic.’ But that is the one word that describes Mr. Hegseth best.”
THE BUREAUCRATIC BEHEMOTH AWAITING PETE HEGSETH AT THE PENTAGON
Hegseth marked the third Trump nominee to be confirmed by the Senate, following Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
Senate Republican leadership is barreling ahead in the coming days with other Cabinet choices, including Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) to lead the Department of Homeland Security, Scott Bessent for treasury secretary, Sean Duffy for transportation secretary, and Russell Vought to run the White House budget office.
