Which senators have been voting against Biden Cabinet nominees?
President Biden suffered the first failure of one of his Cabinet nominees on Tuesday, with Office and Management and Budget pick Neera Tanden withdrawing in the face of bipartisan opposition and impending defeat. Key votes including from Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) cited her highly partisan tweets, including some attacking potentially decisive senators.
To this point, though, Biden has had 13 of his 23 Cabinet nominees confirmed with relative ease. Which Republicans are voting against his picks? Who are the most dissenting senators? And which appointees received the most nays? Below, a recap.
The most frequent votes against Biden’s nominees have in most cases come from ambitious Republicans thought to be potential 2024 presidential candidates. Sen. Josh Hawley (Mo.) has voted against 12 of 13 (he cast his first yes vote Tuesday for Council of Economic Advisers nominee Cecilia Rouse), while Sens. Ted Cruz (Tex.) and Rick Scott (Fla.) have voted against 11 and Sen. Tom Cotton (Ark.) has voted against 10.
When President Donald Trump picked his first Cabinet, five of the six senators who voted most frequently against them eventually ran for president in 2020. The sixth considered doing so.
The only pick besides Tanden who came reasonably close to defeat was Alejandro Mayorkas, Biden’s nominee for the Department of Homeland Security. In his case, 43 Republicans voted no. Only two other nominees have not won half of GOP votes.
[We’re tracking the political appointees Biden is nominating for the Cabinet and beyond]
The only nominee to lose a vote from the Democratic caucus was Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, against whom Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) voted.
All told, GOP opposition to Biden’s choices has been less substantial than among Democrats on Trump’s initial Cabinet picks. The average number of votes against Biden’s nominees is 15, while for Trump it was 27.
Trump had the luxury of more than 50 potential GOP votes in the Senate, though, allowing him more easily to confirm nominees with only GOP support. Former attorney general Jeff Sessions and former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin each received just one Democratic vote — from Manchin — while Health and Human Services nominee Tom Price got none. Education Secretary nominee Betsy DeVos was confirmed despite losing two GOP votes and requiring a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Mike Pence.
Kevin Uhrmacher and Harry Stevens contributed to this report.
