President Trump’s nominee for secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, appears to be on a glide path to confirmation after a last-minute reversal Monday from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).
Paul’s surprise support helped push Pompeo over the top in an 11-9-1 Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote.
All 11 of the Republicans on the committee voted for Pompeo, while nine Democrats voted against him. Sen. Christopher Coons (D-Del.) voted present after opposing Pompeo in an initial vote. Under Senate rules, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), who was voting “yes” by proxy as he attended a funeral, couldn’t be used to clinch a majority for Pompeo, so the committee would have been formally tied at 10-10 unless a Democrat agreed to vote present.
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