Pete Hegseth is confirmed as secretary of defense thanks to JD Vance's tiebreaking vote

Despite all the hurdles, Pete Hegseth's nomination as defense secretary was confirmed in the Senate in a tight vote that included Vice President JD Vance's tie-breaking vote.

Just before casting the tie-breaking vote, Vice President Vance joked on X with a message saying, "I thought I was done voting in the senate," accompanied by a laughing emoji.

With this vote, Vance officially debuted as Senate president, using his tie-breaking power. His predecessor, Democrat Kamala Harris, had the most tie-breaking votes in the country's history.

All Democratic senators, including two who consider themselves independents, voted against Hegseth's nomination. These 47 votes were joined by three more Republicans: Lisa Murkowski (R-AL), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who opposed the anchor of Fox News.

However, 50 Republican senators maintained partisan loyalty. They gave their affirmative vote to Hegseth, who in recent months faced several anonymous accusations of mistreatment and abuse that he characterized as a witch hunt with political intentions. In fact, during the vote, Hegseth released a detailed affidavit rebuttal listing the allegations against him.

One of the key votes to confirm Hegseth was that of Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who justified his vote on social media.

"Pete has a unique perspective as a veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is unquestionably passionate about modernizing our military and supporting the brave patriots like himself who serve our nation. I will support his confirmation and look forward to working with him to rebuild our military and advance President Trump’s peace through strength agenda," Tillis wrote.

In contrast, McConnell, a former Senate GOP leader, questioned Hegseth's lack of strategic credentials as one of his reasons for opposing the nomination.

"Mr. Hegseth provided no substantial observations on how to defend Taiwan or the Philippines against a Chinese attack, or even whether he believes the United States should do so. He failed, for that matter, to articulate in any detail a strategic vision," McConnell said.

But despite his opposition, Hegseth emerged victorious from a tough confirmation in the Senate, signaling not only a victory for President Donald Trump in his quest for a quickly confirmed Cabinet but also a relief for Senator John Thune, the flamboyant majority leader, who would have had a difficult start to his term had he failed to nominate such a high-profile candidate so soon.