Senate confirms RFK Jr. as HHS secretary in 52-48 vote

The Senate voted Thursday to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, following weeks of questions surrounding whether the controversial nominee would win the Senate's approval. 

Senators voted 52 to 48 to confirm Kennedy. The vote fell largely along party lines, with one Republican — Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — joining Democrats in opposing him.

Kennedy, 71, is a longtime environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist whose family has mythic status in Democratic politics. The nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy launched his own White House bid in 2023. And although he initially sought the Democratic nomination, Kennedy changed his bid to independent, before dropping out to endorse President Trump in August. 

Before entering politics, Kennedy worked for two decades as president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a nonprofit. He also founded Children's Health Defense, which has launched legal challenges against vaccine requirements and approvals and served as its chairman beginning in 2016. Kennedy is married to actor Cheryl Hines. He has six children.

With his confirmation, Kennedy will be at the helm of the sprawling HHS department, which includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration.

RFK Jr.'s path to confirmation 

After Mr. Trump picked Kennedy for HHS secretary, pledging on the campaign trail to let him "go wild" on issues relating to health, food, and medicine, Kennedy's confirmation initially appeared to be on shaky ground. With controversial stances on vaccines and abortion, Kennedy garnered opposition from both sides of the aisle. Then, a pair of confirmation hearings featuring tense exchanges with several senators did little to quiet concerns about his path to confirmation, with little wiggle room among Republicans to advance his nomination out of committee. 

As it became clear Kennedy would not find support among Democrats on the committee, the vote to advance his nomination came down to a single Republican — Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — whose vote would tip the scale in either direction. Cassidy, a medical doctor, had expressed consternation over Kennedy's nomination because of the doubts he had raised about vaccines for decades. 

In a surprise move moments ahead of the committee vote, however, Cassidy said he would support Kennedy, citing "serious commitments" he said he'd received from the administration. He later said Kennedy and the administration had agreed "that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship," speaking multiple times a month.

"He will be the secretary, but I believe he will also be a partner," Cassidy said.

After Kennedy's nomination advanced out of committee, Republican opposition in the full Senate also appeared to dissipate. Two senators who are among the few Republicans who have voted to oppose any of the president's nominees, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, announced they would support Kennedy's confirmation this week. And on Wednesday, all Republicans voted to advance his nomination in a procedural vote that fell along party lines.

The final vote to confirm Kennedy as HHS secretary came after weeks of pushback by Democrats, who warned of the widespread impact Kennedy could have on the health system. Senate Democrats spent hours on the Senate floor vocalizing their opposition to his confirmation Wednesday. 

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, which was the committee that voted on advancing Kennedy's nomination, called him an "anti-vaccine crusader" and the "least qualified nominee to ever be nominated for a position of this importance."

"Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle still have an opportunity to turn away from a dangerous path," Wyden said on Wednesday. "If they do not, my view is their legacy will be tarnished by setbacks in science that will echo in America for decades."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote Thursday morning that he's "proud" that every Democrat will oppose Kennedy's nomination, arguing that if the Senate held a vote on Kennedy under a secret ballot, "Mr. Kennedy would never come close to becoming confirmed."

"Many if not most Republicans would vote against him," Schumer continued. "But sadly and unfortunately for America, Republicans are being strong-armed by Donald Trump and will end up holding their nose and voting to confirm Mr. Kennedy."

During his opening statement to the Senate Finance Committee last month, Kennedy said that "Americans' overall health is in a grievous condition," citing high obesity, diabetes and cancer rates, among other conditions on the rise, while pledging to deliver on his and Mr. Trump's promise to "make America healthy again."

"I promised President Trump that if confirmed I will do everything in my power to put the health of Americans back on track," Kennedy said.