THE HILL | Published November 18, 2024
Multiple Republican senators are looming as potential obstacles to President-elect Trump’s controversial Cabinet picks, especially his two most polarizing choices: former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump has had a rocky relationship in the past with a handful of Republicans senators who won’t likely give him the same deference as loyal allies such as Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who last week called on his GOP colleagues to “get out of the way” and approve Trump’s nominees.
Trump can afford three defections within the Senate GOP conference and still get his picks confirmed.
But four Republican senators would be enough to sink any of his nominees, and two moderates — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) — have already voiced deep reservations about Gaetz, who was embroiled in a federal sex trafficking investigation, of leading the Justice Department.
Here are the senators that could stymie Trump’s nominees.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Murkowski signaled her likely opposition to Gaetz soon after he was announced as Trump’s pick to serve as attorney general.
“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general,” she told reporters.
Murkowski, who didn’t vote for either Trump or Vice President Harris, would likely be skeptical of Trump’s choice of Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Collins is the only Republican senator up for reelection in 2026 in a state that Harris won, and she immediately expressed her skepticism about Gaetz serving as the nation’s next attorney general.
“I was shocked by the announcement,” she said of Gaetz’s nomination. “I’m sure that there will be a lot of questions raised at his hearing. Obviously, the president has the right to nominate whomever he wishes, but I’m certain that there will be a lot of questions.”
Collins will closely review Trump’s nomination of Kennedy, as she also sits on the HELP Committee.
Collins told The New York Times that she found some of Kennedy’s past statements “alarming.”
“I’ve never even met with him or sat down with him or heard him speak at length,” she said before Trump formally announced his nomination of Kennedy.
Curtis heads the Conservative Climate Caucus and has pushed back against climate skeptics, arguing that conservatives have a role to serve as “good stewards” of the environment.
He favored censuring Trump for attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, but he voted “no” on impeachment during his tenure in the House, urging colleagues to “tone down the rhetoric and calm the tensions.”
Curtis doesn’t have a great relationship with Gaetz, who traveled to Utah in March to campaign against him in the Senate Republican primary.
Gaetz accused Curtis on the campaign trail of “weakness” and a “willingness to prioritize foreign interests abroad” and “special interests in the halls of Washington.”
Curtis has already signaled he would not support putting the Senate into an extended recess to allow Trump to circumvent the confirmation process by making recess appointments.
“Senator-elect Curtis believes that every president is afforded a degree of deference to select his team and make nominations,” Curtis’s chief of staff, Corey Norman, told KSL TV in Salt Lake City. “He also firmly believes in and is committed to the Senate’s critical role to confirm or reject nominations based on information and insight from confirmation hearings.”
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.)
Cassidy will be one of only three Republican senators still serving next year who voted to convict Trump on the impeachment charge of inciting insurrection.
Cassidy is known as a principled politician who’s not afraid to buck Trump or tackle politically dangerous issues, such as reforming Social Security to extend its solvency.
But the Louisiana lawmaker is up for reelection in 2026 and faces a potential primary challenge given his vote to convict Trump.
He will likely serve as chair of the HELP Committee next year, giving him jurisdiction over Kennedy’s nomination to head Health and Human Services.
Cassidy, a doctor, has disputed claims attempting to link vaccines and autism as “fake news.”
Be the first to comment