Pete Hegseth, who faces a Senate confirmation vote on Friday night, could be approved by the narrowest margin for any secretary of defense in modern history.
Defense secretaries have historically been consensus nominees, and senators have typically provided strong backing in a demonstration of U.S. governmental unity on national security issues. With the exception of the rejection of John Tower for the top Pentagon job under President George H.W. Bush in 1989, nearly all the nominees have received overwhelming bipartisan Senate support. Some were confirmed by voice vote, with no formal roll call even required.
But Mr. Hegseth, a combat veteran turned Fox News personality who has faced multiple allegations of personal misconduct, saw his nomination advanced on Thursday on a spare, party-line 51-49 vote, with all Democrats and two Republicans opposed.
The no votes from two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, were a rare partisan break with any president in consideration of a Cabinet official.
“I was very surprised that Collins and Murkowski would do that,” Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday.
The close vote made clear that concerns about Mr. Hegseth’s character and reports of excessive drinking, lack of management experience and statements against women in combat had exacted a deep toll in both parties.
He has consistently denied all of the accusations about his personal conduct.
Mr. Hegseth can afford to lose just one more Republican in the Friday-night vote and still be confirmed. If one additional Republican opposes him, Vice President JD Vance can break a tie with Democrats and push him to confirmation. But if more than one votes against him, Mr. Hegseth would be rejected. That would be a stinging early defeat for President Trump, who has strongly backed him, with the Senate under Republican control.
The closest comparison for Mr. Hegseth is the 2013 debate over the nomination of Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska and Vietnam veteran chosen by President Barack Obama to lead the Pentagon. Mr. Hagel met fierce resistance from his one-time fellow Republicans, though he was eventually confirmed 58-41, with four Republicans joining Democrats in pushing him over the finish line.
Aside from that vote and Mr. Tower’s rejection following accounts of his excessive drinking, no other secretary of defense nominee in the past 50 years has gotten fewer than 90 votes, with Leon Panetta being confirmed 100-0 in 2011. Three others — Harold Brown in 1977, Les Aspin in 1993 and Donald Rumsfeld in 2001 — sailed through on voice votes.
