Senate Republicans Confirm More Than 100 Trump Nominees
Senate Republicans delivered a decisive win for President Donald J. Trump on Tuesday evening, confirming more than 100 of his nominees in a single historic move — a major step toward clearing the backlog of appointments that Democrats had stalled for months.
The mass confirmations were made possible after Senate Republicans changed the chamber’s rules last month, allowing most executive branch nominees to be approved in groups instead of requiring individual votes. The rule, which excludes Cabinet secretaries and judicial nominees, dramatically sped up a process that Democrats had used to obstruct Trump’s agenda.
Among those confirmed were several notable figures close to the President, including former Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who will serve as ambassador to the Bahamas, and Sergio Gor, former White House Presidential Personnel Office director, who will now represent the U.S. as ambassador to India.
Republicans invoked what’s known as the “nuclear option” — a party-line rules change — to break through months of deliberate Democrat obstruction that had paralyzed the confirmation process.
Some GOP senators had briefly floated allowing President Trump to make recess appointments, which would have let him fill posts without Senate approval while Congress was out of session. But Republican leadership rejected that route, concerned it could one day be used against them when Democrats return to power.
Still, Tuesday’s wave of confirmations marks a major victory for President Trump, who continues to rebuild the executive branch and restore efficiency after years of bureaucratic slowdown and partisan gridlock.
In earlier deliberations, Senate Republicans had weighed how to overcome Democratic obstruction tactics that left dozens of judicial nominations stalled. President Trump himself had pressed Senate leadership to move faster, criticizing the outdated “blue slip” tradition — a courtesy that allowed home-state senators to block nominees simply by withholding approval slips.
“Everybody had been talking through various options,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), who led the GOP working group that crafted the rules overhaul. “One of the things that that process did was empower the committee process.”
Britt noted that she had even worked with some Democrats during the August recess to find a path forward — a rare sign of bipartisan cooperation in today’s hyperpolarized Washington.
Earlier this summer, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had warned Democrats that their obstruction would no longer be tolerated. He vowed to keep the chamber in session through weekends and recesses if necessary to ensure the President’s nominees were confirmed.
President Trump, frustrated with the delays, publicly urged senators to cancel their August vacation until his nominees were approved, writing on Truth Social that his administration “should not be forced to wait any longer.”
The President’s persistence paid off.
Among the most high-profile approvals was Jeanine Pirro, the former judge, prosecutor, and Fox News host, who was confirmed as Washington D.C.’s top federal prosecutor. Pirro’s appointment capped off what many in Washington are calling a Trump resurgence in staffing key posts after enduring relentless Democratic obstruction.
Tuesday’s confirmation blitz, the largest since the new rule took effect, underscores President Trump’s growing momentum as he continues to reshape the federal government — and Washington’s political balance — in his second term.