Prior to Rex Tillerson, Senate votes confirming the secretary of state have been bipartisan. Vance, Christopher, and Powell all had voice votes. Baker and Albright had 99-0 votes. Rice had 85-13. All the rest had at least 90+ votes in the Senate until Tillerson who got 56-43, the lowest confirmation vote recorded going back to the Carter years. The current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the rank with the second lowest votes at 57-42. On January 23, 2017, he was previously confirmed CIA Director by the Senate by Yea-Nay Vote. 66 – 32.
| Nomination | Announced | Hearings | Received | Confirmed | Votes |
| TRUMP | |||||
| Michael Pompeo |
March 13, |
April 12, 2018 |
March 20, 2018 |
April 26, 2018 |
57-42 No. 84 |
|
Rex |
December 13, 2016 |
January 11, 2017 | January 20, 2017 |
February 1, 2017 | 56-43 No. 36 |
| OBAMA | |||||
| John Kerry |
December 21, 2012 |
January 24, 2013 | January 22, 2013 | January 29, 2013 | 94-3 No. 5 |
| Hillary Clinton |
December 1, 2008 | January 13, 2009 | January 20, 2009 | January 21, 2009 | 94-2 No. 6 |
| BUSH | |||||
| Condi Rice |
November 16, 2004 |
January 18-19, 2005 |
January 4, 2005 |
January 26, 2005 | 85-13 No. 2 |
| Colin Powell |
December 16, 2000 |
January 17, 2001 | January 20, 2001 | January 20, 2001 | Voice Vote |
Source: U.S. Senate Cabinet Statistics (click on image for larger view)
This clip of the secretary of state talking about the “rapture” is not new (though we’ve just seen it). It has been around prior to his confirmation earlier this year. Although 10 more senators refused to confirm him as SecState than the year earlier as CIA director, he got one more vote than Tillerson (including seven Democratic votes) and was confirmed as 70th Secretary of State (with the second lowest votes at confirmation).