The Senate voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as secretary of defense on Friday following a tough confirmation battle in which Democrats and the media badgered him with personal attacks.
Hegseth, a former Army National Guard officer and Fox News host, won confirmation with a 51 to 50 vote. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote, making him the second VP to do so after Mike Pence helped secure Betsy Devos’s confirmation as education secretary in 2017.
Hegseth’s ascension comes after a monthlong effort from Democrats to sink the nomination. It also follows a flurry of anonymously sourced media articles that accused him of drinking excessively and running a misogynistic workplace while leading the veterans’ organization Concerned Veterans for America (CVA). Democrats leaned heavily on the reports while questioning Hegseth during his confirmation hearing.
One of the sources behind the claims was former CVA employee Kat Dugan, who had worked for the organization for eight months before leaving after receiving a poor performance review, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
In a last-ditch effort to stall his nomination this week, an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law was leaked to NBC News, accusing Hegseth of abusing his ex-wife. Both Hegseth and his ex-wife publicly denied the allegation.
During his confirmation hearing, Hegseth framed himself as a much-needed agent of change, emphasizing his combat experience and deployments in the war on terror and noting that prior defense secretaries often came from the upper ranks of the Pentagon, politics, and the defense industry.
“I’ve led troops in combat. I’ve been on patrol for days. I’ve pulled the trigger downrange, heard bullets whiz by, flex-cuffed insurgents, called in close air support, led medevacs, dodged IEDs, pulled out dead bodies, and knelt before a battlefield cross,” said Hegseth.
“This is not academic for me. This is my life. I led then, and I will lead now.”
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