The governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, has passed a confirmation vote in the Senate, is the next director of home protection and officially joins the fresh Trump government.
She was confirmed with cross-party support and won 59-34.
Noem’s confirmation process was not checked to the same extent as some of the other candidates of President Donald Trump, for example the newly confirmed Defense Minister Pete Hegseth. His coordination overnight ended with 51 to 50, with three Republicans – Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski and Mitch McConnell – voted against him and Vice President JD Vance had to give up the crucial voice.
Read more: US Senate coordinates the nomination of Pete Hegseth to the Minister of Defense
Noem, to whom a temporarily controversial hearing for confirmation was imminent, survived the process unscathed. There were signs that it could even be confirmed with cross -party support. Previously, she received some support from the Democrats in the Committee on Internal Security and Government Matters of the Senate, where her nomination was accepted with 13 to 2 votes and was forwarded to the entire Senate for final confirmation.
Noem reached 51 votes for the confirmation long before the vote was ended, with a handful of democrats voted for the confirmation, including the rather centrically set John Fetterman from Pennsylvania. Every single Republican voted for Noem, and six democrats joined them.
Weekend votes for confirmation are rareBut not unusual in the Senate. Noem’s confirmation takes place at a time when the ministry is under observation, which has been done (or more precisely, not) in the past four years – especially with regard to immigration.
