Vice President J.D. Vance was needed to break a tie Friday night in order for the Senate to confirm Pete Hegseth as President Donald Trump's defense secretary.
"Congratulations to Pete Hegseth," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "He will make a great Secretary of Defense!"
It was the second time in U.S. history that a vice president was needed to break a tie to confirm a Cabinet nomination. The first was in 2017 in Trump's first administration, when Mike Pence cast the tiebreaking vote to confirm Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
"I thought I was done voting in the Senate," Vance, a former Republican senator from Ohio, posted on X, with a laughing emoji.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted against Hegseth, as expected, but a surprise no vote came from Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., forcing Vance, as president of the upper chamber, to step in with the tiebreaking vote.
McConnell, who stepped down as the longtime Republican Senate leader, voted Thursday to advance Hegseth's nomination to a final vote. But he said after Friday's vote that Hegseth had not demonstrated a sufficient understanding of national security challenges to oversee what he called "the most consequential Cabinet official in any administration."
"Effective management of nearly 3 million military and civilian personnel, an annual budget of nearly $1 trillion, and alliances and partnerships around the world is a daily test with staggering consequences," McConnell said in a statement, according to The New York Times. "Mr. Hegseth has failed, as yet, to demonstrate that he will pass this test."
Another Republican on the fence about Hegseth, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, lived up to his pledge to vote for any of Trump's Cabinet nominations once they were approved at the committee level for a final Senate vote.
"From the beginning, I have been clear about my position: If President Trump’s nominees were reported favorably out of the relevant committees, I would support their confirmation on the Senate floor absent new material information about their qualifications," Tillis posted on X. "Once Pete Hegseth’s nomination was sent to the floor by my colleagues on the Senate Armed Services Committee, I conducted my own due diligence, including asking tough questions of Pete, and I appreciated his candor and openness in answering them.
"Pete has a unique perspective as a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is unquestionably passionate about modernizing our military and supporting the brave patriots like himself who serve our nation."
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., reportedly opened Friday's session saying that Hegseth, an Army combat hero, "will bring a warrior's perspective" to the top military job.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.