J.D. Vance cast his first tie-breaking vote of his term as VP just moments ago. After three Senate Republicans balked at confirming Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Vance arrived on Capitol Hill by motorcade to finalize Hegseth’s confirmation:

The Republican-controlled Senate on Friday night confirmed Pete Hegseth as defense secretary by the narrowest of margins, with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote and delivering a victory for President Donald Trump.

The initial vote was 50-50, with three Republicans — Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine — joining all 47 Democrats in voting no.

Vance then cast the 51st vote, putting Hegseth over the top, ending weeks of uncertainty over the fate of Trump's controversial pick to lead the Pentagon.

Here is video of the moment, for anyone interested in its potential historical value:

BREAKING

The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Pete Hegseth to serve as Secretary of Defense.

The vote was 50–50, with Senator Susan Collins, Senator Lisa Murkowski, and Senator Mitch McConnell voting against Hegseth from the Republican side.

VP JD Vance cast the… pic.twitter.com/doKHS1yRIK

— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) January 25, 2025

I’m not sure why McConnell balked. Yes, he issued a statement outlining his objections, but McConnell kept those to himself even while voting to go to a floor vote for Hegseth. Trump made a crack today assuming McConnell had voted against in the procedural vote, which was wrong, but prescient in the end. Perhaps McConnell had already decided to vote against final confirmation, but if that were the case, why vote to end debate and allow a floor vote? Why vote no and then in the statement objecting to Hegseth include a congratulations and a pledge to work with him?

Anyway, it makes no real difference, except to give the media a talking point for the weekend. Thom Tillis was the other question mark, and he made it pretty clear earlier that he would vote to confirm. Hegseth was going to get confirmed at that point no matter what; the only thing required was to waste Vance’s evening. Let’s hope we don’t see that again soon.