The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s pick for secretary of state, by a vote of 57-42 on Thursday.
Pompeo cleared a tumultuous confirmation process, with every Democrat on the Senate’s Foreign Relations Panel opposing his nomination. He was recommended favorably by the committee earlier this week only after Kentucky senator Rand Paul, one of Pompeo’s earliest detractors, flipped his vote at the very last minute.
Democratic support for Pompeo was slow to materialize. A few moderate Democrats announced that they’d back him within the last week, effectively securing his confirmation: Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, all of whom are up for re-election in red states in 2018.
Missouri senator Claire McCaskill, also up for re-election, voted Thursday for Pompeo to be secretary of state. She was spotted shortly before the vote on the Senate floor chatting with newly elected Alabama Democrat Doug Jones. “Go get em!” she said, to which Jones approached the Senate chamber dais and voted yes. Florida senator Bill Nelson also voted for Pompeo on Thursday, though he voted against him for CIA director. He, too, is up for re-election.
Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton stood front and center waiting for the votes to trickle in on Thursday. Cotton, a longtime friend of Pompeo’s, chatted with Republican whip John Cornyn and counted off the seven Democratic caucus members who voted in favor of Pompeo. Just before the final senator cast his vote, Cotton spotted White House director of legislative affairs Marc Short in the gallery and the two exchanged salutes. And then the final tally was announced, a moment that was surely a relief for Cotton and Short—both of whom have criticized Democrats for their opposition throughout this month’s polarizing confirmation process.
Of the 15 Democrats who voted Pompeo into his CIA role last January, only five voted for the former Kansas congressman to serve as secretary of state: Donnelly, Heitkamp, Manchin, McCaskill, and Independent Angus King. Ten voted against, including California senator Dianne Feinstein, Minority leader Chuck Schumer, Virginia senator Tim Kaine, and New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen.
Opponents of the nomination said that Pompeo is not suited to be the nation’s top diplomat because of what they described as his hawkish views. They also raised concerns that he would not act as a check on the president’s “worst instincts and impulses.”
Pompeo pledged during his confirmation hearing to empower State Department employees and fill the myriad of “demoralizing” vacancies there. He expressed a clear preference for diplomacy over military force generally, as well as specifically in relation to Iran and North Korea, telling lawmakers that war is “the last resort.” “The solution to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, to finding ourselves in the same place we are in North Korea in Iran, is through diplomacy,” he said.
As Democratic opposition to Pompeo increased, Republicans accused Democrats of playing partisan politics and ignoring the then-CIA director’s qualifications.
“Most of them are coming up with some fairly strange, bizarre explanations as to why they wouldn’t want to support this very qualified nominee,” South Dakota senator John Thune said Tuesday. He cited the Senate’s “long tradition” of confirming secretary of state nominees on a bipartisan basis, including John Kerry, who was confirmed 94 to 3 in 2013.
“It’s clear that the entire agenda of the minority is procedural sabotage,” said Colorado senator Cory Gardner. “A procedural sabotage to stop every nominee, drag them out as long as they can to obstruct at historic and unprecedented levels.”
Republican leaders were determined to confirm Pompeo ahead of a NATO summit in Brussels Friday. The newly confirmed secretary of state is also expected to advise the president ahead of a meeting between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Pompeo secretly met with Kim earlier this month in North Korea. Pompeo will also likely help guide the president ahead of a self-imposed May deadline related to the Iran nuclear deal.
