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(Bloomberg) — Pete Hegseth’s confirmation as US Defense secretary bodes well for President Donald Trump’s other controversial cabinet choices as well as his ability to maintain Republican support for an ambitious legislative agenda in the months to come.

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Hegseth, a combat veteran and former Fox News commentator, was confirmed by the US Senate 51—50 in a late Friday night vote that concluded Trump’s first week back in the White House. He won approval, with the tie-breaking vote of Vice President JD Vance, despite a stream of allegations ranging from spousal abuse to excessive drinking to financial mismanagement — all of which he denied. 

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“Congratulations to Pete Hegseth. He will make a great Secretary of Defense!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Trump’s public support for Hegseth never wavered, and his success in pushing through the nomination despite private doubts among lawmakers amounted to a fresh testament to his hold over the Republican Party. 

Trump did not just disregard the questions swirling around his 44-year-old pick for Pentagon chief. He featured the nominee prominently in recent days. Hegseth joined Trump on a visit to Arlington National Cemetery, and he was seen in a lively discussion with US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — who himself faced a rocky Senate confirmation more than three decades ago — during Trump’s inaugural lunch on Monday. 

Trump allies also waged a pressure campaign on Republican senators to buoy his appointment.

“Many if not most Republican senators realize Hegseth is not qualified,” said Christian Whiton, a one-time State Department adviser in the Bush and Trump administrations who broke ranks with his party in openly announcing his opposition to the nominee. “That they were unwilling to push back on an obvious error of judgment by the president is a disservice to Trump in the long run.” 

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More contentious picks await. They include Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary, Tulsi Gabbard as director of National Intelligence, and Kash Patel as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. All are set to have public confirmation hearings in the coming week. 

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine comments have attracted scorn, while Patel, who worked for the House Intelligence Committee and served in senior national security posts in the first Trump administration, has spoken about going “after” the media and rooting out government opposition to Trump.

The most vulnerable may be Gabbard. On Friday, the conservative National Review published an editorial calling her “an atrocious nominee who deserves to be defeated.” 

It cited her opposition to a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that allows for the monitoring of non-Americans’ communications plus her refusal to acknowledge that Syria’s government was responsible for gas attacks against its own people.

“Republican senators want to defer to Trump as much as possible as he enters office at the apex of his influence,” the editorial said of the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii. “But the aloha spirit can go too far.”

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Gabbard and Patel are expected to face the most scrutiny of Trump’s remaining cabinet picks, because of their past statements and actions, according to a GOP member of Congress who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.

Earlier: Trump’s Cabinet Set for Confirmation, Weekend Votes Expected

Hegseth’s successful confirmation battle will be instructive. None of their past statements and stances – no matter how controversial — were as incendiary as his alleged failings. Just this week, a Democratic senator released an affidavit from Hegseth’s former sister-in-law, detailing accusations of abusive and sexist behavior toward her and his former wife. 

The president’s team likened Hegseth’s nomination to the first-term confirmation battle over Brett Kavanaugh’s ultimately successful US Supreme Court nomination. Trump’s allies also consider the Hegseth nomination to be a good early demonstration of the new dynamic between the White House and Senate Republicans. In the end, Trump didn’t have to expend a lot of political capital to get the vote he wanted. 

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Earlier: Hegseth’s Ex-Sister-In-Law Details Claims of Abuse, Drunkenness

Senator Susan Collins of Maine and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, both Republicans, voted against Hegseth’s nomination. So did Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the chamber’s former Republican leader. 

When Hegseth was first chosen, Senator Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, veteran and sexual assault survivor, expressed public misgivings. But Trump supporters started an online campaign to sway her. 

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, published a piece on conservative website Breitbart in early December, urging senators to confirm Trump’s cabinet, a veiled signal that she or other Republicans could mount a costly primary challenge to Ernst.

In the end, the senator supported Hegseth’s nomination.

Hegseth also personally met with Ernst and other senators. He pledged to stop drinking if he was confirmed. 

Trump’s initial pick as US attorney general, former Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, withdrew his nomination before the release of a damning report that alleged he engaged in illicit drug use and patronized prostitutes while in office — allegations that he denies. 

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Chad Chronister, whom Trump had nominated to run the Drug Enforcement Administration, also took his name out of consideration after a conservative uproar erupted over his enforcement of coronavirus rules as Hillsborough Country, Florida, sheriff in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. 

For any Republican senator seeking to have good ties with Trump, one of the surest ways is to vote for his nominees, according to the GOP congressional member. And with the highest-profile nominees out of the way, attention will turn to Trump’s policy priorities.

He has outlined a legislative agenda that includes extending the 2017 tax overhaul that he enacted and adding no taxes on tipped wages and Social Security as well as measures to increase energy production and secure the US border. Republicans are trying to decide the most effective legislative route to take to address those goals. 

“There’s a lot of anxious anticipation, a lot of excitement about what we’re going to do,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said this week after Republican leaders met Trump. “We will deliver.” 

—With assistance from Steven T. Dennis and Natalia Drozdiak.

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