While President-elect Donald Trump‘s nominee for Secretary of Defense, former Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth faces members of the U.S. Senate at his confirmation hearing, No. 2 Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin (D-IL) announced his endorsement of Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
Durbin wrote: “I believe Senator Rubio has a thorough understanding of the United States’ role on an international scale, has served with honor on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and is a good choice to lead the State Department. I plan to vote yes on his nomination when it comes before the Senate.”
I met with Pres.-elect Trump’s Secretary of State pick, Marco Rubio.
Senator Rubio and I have worked closely together in the Senate on a number of foreign policy issues. I believe he is a good choice to lead the State Department. pic.twitter.com/n6ykDnvMtX
— Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) January 13, 2025
Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the top-ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said that Rubio would likely get a strong bipartisan vote next week, maybe even on Trump’s first day in office, on Tuesday, January 21.
Shaheen told The Hill: “We’ve done this before,” noting that the Senate quickly confirmed President Obama’s State Secretary nominee, then-Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on January 21, 2009. After the Senate voted (94-2), Clinton took the oath of office that same day.
[Note: The two who opposed Clinton’s cabinet nomination were Republican Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina — who later became President of the Heritage Foundation — and David Vitter of Louisiana — who became a lobbyist for the Chinese-state owned video surveillance company, Hikvision.]
Rubio, who is considered one of Congress’s most hawkish members with regard to China, has been banned from entering China by the Chinese Communist Party.