A number of Republican senators are looming as potential obstacles to President-elect Trump’s controversial Cupboard picks, particularly his two most polarizing decisions: former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Trump has had a rocky relationship up to now with a handful of Republicans senators who received’t possible give him the identical deference as loyal allies similar to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who final week referred to as on his GOP colleagues to “get out of the way” and approve Trump’s nominees.
Trump can afford three defections inside the Senate GOP convention and nonetheless get his picks confirmed.
However 4 Republican senators can be sufficient 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 intercourse trafficking investigation, of main the Justice Division.
Listed here are the senators that would stymie Trump’s nominees.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Murkowski signaled her possible opposition to Gaetz quickly after he was introduced as Trump’s choose to function lawyer basic.
“I don’t think it’s a serious nomination for attorney general. We need to have a serious attorney general,” she advised reporters.
Murkowski, who didn’t vote for both Trump or Vice President Harris, would possible be skeptical of Trump’s selection of Kennedy to move the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
The Alaska senator, who serves on the Senate Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, used social media to advertise vaccines through the COVID-19 pandemic, however she additionally voted in December 2021 to overturn the vaccine mandate for personal companies.
She expressed stunned over Trump’s selection of Pete Hegseth, a navy veteran and Fox Information host, to move the Division of Protection.
“Wow. … I’m just surprised. I’m not going to comment on whether it’s good, bad or indifferent. I’m just surprised because the names that I’ve heard for secretary of Defense have not included him,” she mentioned.
Murkowski was one among seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump of inciting riot throughout his 2021 Senate impeachment trial.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Collins is the one Republican senator up for reelection in 2026 in a state that Harris received, and she or he instantly expressed her skepticism about Gaetz serving because the nation’s subsequent lawyer basic.
“I was shocked by the announcement,” she mentioned 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 intently evaluation Trump’s nomination of Kennedy, as she additionally sits on the HELP Committee.
Collins advised The New York occasions that she discovered a few of Kennedy’s previous statements “alarming.”
“I’ve never even met with him or sat down with him or heard him speak at length,” she mentioned earlier than Trump formally introduced his nomination of Kennedy.
However she mentioned that Kennedy “would be a surprising choice” to move the nation’s well being providers, given his lengthy observe report of claiming that vaccines pose critical well being issues and his push to take away fluoride from public water, one thing that many lawmakers view as a fringe challenge.
Sen.-elect John Curtis (R-Utah)
Curtis will likely be filling the seat of retiring Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), and he has the status of a sensible centrist who is anticipated to method his job in the identical considerate and measured means that Romney did throughout his six years within the Senate.
Curtis heads the Conservative Local weather Caucus and has pushed again in opposition to local weather skeptics, arguing that conservatives have a task to function “good stewards” of the setting.
He favored censuring Trump for making an attempt to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election, however he voted “no” on impeachment throughout his tenure within the Home, urging colleagues to “tone down the rhetoric and calm the tensions.”
Curtis doesn’t have an incredible relationship with Gaetz, who traveled to Utah in March to marketing campaign in opposition to him within the Senate Republican main.
Gaetz accused Curtis on the marketing campaign path of “weakness” and a “willingness to prioritize foreign interests abroad” and “special interests in the halls of Washington.”
Curtis has already signaled he wouldn’t assist placing the Senate into an prolonged recess to permit Trump to bypass the affirmation course of 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 employees, Corey Norman, advised KSL TV in Salt Lake Metropolis. “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. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.)
Cassidy will likely be one among solely three Republican senators nonetheless serving subsequent 12 months who voted to convict Trump on the impeachment cost of inciting riot.
Cassidy is named a principled politician who’s not afraid to buck Trump or sort out politically harmful points, similar to reforming Social Safety to increase its solvency.
However the Louisiana lawmaker is up for reelection in 2026 and faces a possible main problem given his vote to convict Trump.
He’ll possible function chair of the HELP Committee subsequent 12 months, giving him jurisdiction over Kennedy’s nomination to move Well being and Human Companies.
Cassidy, a health care provider, has disputed claims making an attempt to hyperlink vaccines and autism as “fake news.”
“As a doctor who has spent my life trying to bring health to the people of Louisiana, I strongly endorse immunizations,” he mentioned in 2019. “There is no linkage to autism that has ever been made by a credible scientist.”
Cassidy’s Well being panel will maintain a listening to on Kennedy however the Senate Finance Committee will deal with Kennedy’s paperwork and vote to advance him to the ground, in response to a Republican supply conversant in the method.
Cassidy dodged questions on Gaetz’s nomination to move the Justice Division however didn’t seem like impressed by Trump’s selection of Hegseth to steer the Division of Protection, given his profession in tv and lack of expertise managing massive organizations such because the Pentagon.
“Who?” Cassidy mentioned when requested Tuesday about Hegseth changing into the following secretary of Protection, expressing the identical bewilderment that a number of GOP senators voiced about Trump’ s unorthodox selection when information of it broke Tuesday.
Sen. Todd Younger (R-Ind.)
Younger is a critical legislator who doesn’t prefer to be requested about Trump’s newest provocative statements on Reality Social.
However whereas Younger doesn’t typically speak in regards to the controversies that consistently swirl round Trump, he’s made clear up to now that he’s not a fan.
He didn’t endorse Trump for president in 2024 and has criticized him for refusing to name Russian President Vladimir Putin a warfare prison.
He additionally faulted Trump for the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol however didn’t vote to convict him of inciting riot.
Younger was one among a number of Republican senators, together with Collins, Murkowski and Cassidy, to vote for a 2022 invoice to deal with gun violence.
Gaetz mentioned on the time that any Republican senator who supported the measure can be “a traitor to the Constitution,” a press release that received’t endear him to the senators whose assist he must win affirmation.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa)
Ernst advised The Hill that Gaetz has an “uphill climb” to securing sufficient votes to win affirmation, and she or he’s taking a wait-and-see method to Trump’s decisions of Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii, to function director of nationwide intelligence and Hegseth to steer the Protection Division.
Ernst mentioned she desires to satisfy with Gabbard earlier than forming any judgments about her nomination.
“I’ve had a relationship with her. It might be a little unconventional, but at the same time she might bring value to us too. So we’ll have to sort through all that,” she mentioned.
Requested about Gabbard’s previous statements defending Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Putin, Ernst mentioned, “We’ll have to talk about that.”
Ernst can also be up for reelection in 2026. Whereas Trump received Iowa within the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, former President Obama carried it in 2008 and 2012.
Democrats could goal her seat just because they don’t have many different promising choices on the electoral map.
Ernst misplaced her race to grow to be Senate Republican Convention chair to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and could also be extra inclined to interrupt together with her get together now that she is going to now not be a member of the elected management.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.)
Tillis is just not afraid to play the position of Republican maverick if he feels strongly a few nominee or a problem, and he’s already suggesting that Gaetz may not have a lot assist within the Senate.
“It’ll just be interesting to see what his organic base is,” Tillis mentioned of the nominee. “At the end of the day, Congressman Gaetz, he’ll have a hearing, but I’m all about counting votes and I would think that he’s probably got some work cut out for him to get a good strong vote.”
“We’re not going to get a single Democrat vote,” he mentioned.
Tillis will likely be one of many Senate Democrats’ prime targets in 2026 if he decides to run for reelection in North Carolina, a battleground state that Trump received by 3.5 proportion factors over Harris.
Tillis, who represents greater than 90,000 active-duty service members in his dwelling state, which can also be dwelling to Fort Liberty — previously often known as Fort Bragg — says Hegseth might want to reply some powerful questions at his affirmation listening to.
“I think he’s just got to go through the vetting process and withstand what I’m sure is going to be an interesting murder board in the Senate Armed Services Committee,” he advised reporters.
Tillis acknowledged Hegseth’s lack of expertise main massive organizations will likely be one thing he wants to deal with at his affirmation listening to.
“Those are all things you got to have good, sound answers for. It’s a large, complex, very, very important agency,” he mentioned. “We’ve got to see all the vetting. There’s a lot of work that’ll go into between now and the time he actually comes before the committee.”
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Cornyn pledged to get Trump’s nominees via the Senate rapidly when he was working in opposition to Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) to grow to be the following Senate majority chief.
Cornyn, nevertheless, misplaced that race, which may give him extra freedom to criticize Trump’s picks, particularly if he doesn’t assume they’re certified for the highest-profile Cupboard roles.
He joked to reporters that he and Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who will retire as Senate GOP chief, at the moment are “liberated” as they received’t have elected management positions in 2025, giving them extra latitude to push again in opposition to flawed nominees.
Cornyn, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has referred to as for members of his panel to have full entry to the findings of the Home Ethics Committee’s investigation of Gaetz for alleged sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
He warned that if there’s proof of wrongdoing, Gaetz may grow to be “an embarrassment to the president.”
“We need to get access to everything,” he mentioned, breaking with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who mentioned Friday that he’ll “strongly request” that the Home Ethics panel stick with its observe of not releasing a report a few member who has resigned from the Home, as Gaetz did this previous week.
Cornyn additionally appeared stunned that Trump picked Gabbard to function director of nationwide intelligence, given her previous statements disputing the U.S. authorities’s declare that Assad used chemical weapons in opposition to his personal folks and defending Putin’s said rationale for invading Ukraine.
Cornyn, nevertheless, is up for reelection in 2026 and is more likely to face a conservative main challenger.
This would possibly give him purpose to be cautious in criticizing Trump’s nominees, besides, he’s not more likely to draw back from standing his floor on Trump’s most controversial picks, similar to Gaetz.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)
McConnell will likely be one of the crucial fascinating Senate wild playing cards subsequent 12 months given his deep skepticism of Trump’s character and plenty of of his coverage positions.
McConnell has served as Senate majority or minority chief for the previous 18 years, which saddled him with the accountability of preserving unity inside the GOP convention.
As majority chief throughout Trump’s first 4 years in workplace, he performed a number one position in confirming Trump’s nominees to the chief and judicial branches. He counts his position in confirming three conservative justices to the Supreme Court docket beneath Trump amongst his biggest profession accomplishments.
But McConnell, an institutionalist and protection hawk, is just not more likely to rubber-stamp Trump’s nomination of Gaetz to move the Justice Division if he thinks it might undermine public confidence within the nation’s prime legislation enforcement establishment.
“Looking at his track record, he’s never cowed to Trump on things, especially as they relate to the Senate and the Senate’s role,” mentioned a Senate Republican aide.
McConnell rejected Trump’s name in 2018 for Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster to enhance the probabilities of passing his legislative agenda on the time.
Given his position as a defender of Senate prerogatives, he’ll possible counsel in opposition to placing the Senate in an prolonged recess to permit Trump to make recess appointments.
McConnell will rigorously study Gabbard’s statements about Russia, given the main position he has performed directing U.S. navy assist to Ukraine.
He mentioned his precedence over the ultimate two years of his seventh Senate time period will likely be to construct up protection spending and the nation’s protection industrial base. If he views Hegseth as a Trump loyalist who could be at odds with that mission, he’ll possible communicate out in opposition to him.
