The Senate confirmed Sean Duffy to lead the Transportation Department on Tuesday in a bipartisan vote.
Duffy was confirmed on Tuesday, 77-22, with nearly half of the Democratic conference voting with Republicans to confirm his nomination. But there was a significant drop-off from a day earlier, when the former congressman easily cleared a procedural vote on his nomination with a vote of 97-0.
In the intervening hours, the Trump administration announced a pause on federal loans and grants that enraged Democrats, who slammed the Monday night action as immoral and illegal. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) said she flipped her vote in protest of Trump’s executive move.
“I would have been a ‘yes’ on him, but I’m going to be a ‘no’ on him because of this,” she told reporters.
Still, bipartisan support for Duffy’s nomination was clear when he was introduced at his confirmation committee hearing earlier this month by Wisconsin’s bipartisan senators, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Ron Johnson (R-WI). The two committed to supporting his nomination, foreshadowing that he would unanimously sail through the committee vote.
Duffy, who served in Congress from 2011 to 2019, does not have a background in transportation, similar to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg when he arrived four years ago. Duffy served several terms and resigned in 2019 to care for a newborn baby with health challenges. He has since had a frequent presence on Fox Business Network and was a Fox Business Network host.
During his hearing, Duffy emphasized that aviation and roadway safety are his top priorities, along with restoring trust in U.S. planemaker Boeing following an incident in which a 737 Max 9 passenger jet lost a door plug in early 2024. Two Boeing 727 Max plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 also put the company under the microscope.
The father of nine has vocally opposed the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies and could have the authority to scale back programs implemented under former President Joe Biden. Duffy pledged to huddle with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to strategize on a legislative response to the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, a major priority for Vance when he was serving in the Senate.
The previous confirmation votes for transportation secretaries have been overwhelmingly bipartisan. Buttigieg was confirmed 86-13, and Elaine Chao, Trump’s nominee in 2017, was confirmed 93-6. Duffy said he would continue to operate in the long tradition of bipartisanship when it comes to transportation policy.
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Duffy’s bipartisan confirmation vote comes as three of Trump’s most controversial Cabinet picks go before their respective committees this week. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will testify before the Finance and the Senate HELP committees on Wednesday and Thursday for his nomination to become the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Tulsi Gabbard will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee for her nomination as intelligence chief, and Kash Patel will go before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination as FBI director on Thursday.
