Mike Waltz gets green light from Senate as ambassador to United Nations

The Senate on Friday approved Mike Waltz as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, an appointment that comes on the eve of a week of high-level meetings and discussions at the U.N. General Assembly.

The confirmation came with a tight vote of 47 to 43. Three Democrats - Mark Kelly (Arizona), Jeanne Shaheen (New Hampshire) and John Fetterman (Pennsylvania) - joined the Republican majority in backing the nomination. The only dissenting vote within the Republican Party was that of Rand Paul (Kentucky), who had already tried to stop the nomination from the committee.

After the result was announced, Waltz wrote on his X account:

"THANK YOU President Trump & the U.S. Senate for your trust and confidence to Make the UN Great Again."

A confirmation against the clock

Until a few days ago, it seemed unlikely that Waltz would make it to the annual UN event on time. His nomination had been returned to the Foreign Relations Committee along with President Donald Trump's other diplomatic nominations after Democrats objected to the way the committee pushed through the process.

Pressure from Republican allies and figures close to Trump, including strategist Jason Miller, was key to the upper chamber finalizing confirmation before world leaders begin arriving in New York.

Boundaries and negotiations

Although Waltz was ratified as a representative to the Security Council, the Senate did not vote on his nomination as a delegate to the General Assembly. For now, it is not known if this omission will affect his immediate functions during the legislative recess.

To break the deadlock, Republicans negotiated with Senator Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, who agreed to support the nomination in exchange for freeing up foreign assistance funds.