BREAKING: Republican Senator Susan Collins (ME) “Leaning” No On Betsy DeVos For Education Secretary. Updated Decision Desk HQ 49-49 1 Undecided UPDATED: COLLINS And Murkowski Are NOs.
Both Murkowski (AK) and Collins (ME) confirm they are NO votes on DeVos for Secretory of Education. That puts the tally at 50-50 if Sessions (AL) votes while awaiting his confirmation or 49-50 if he doesn’t or is confirmed before DeVos nomination is voted on.
From Politico.
“I’m still working through that but I’m leaning against her. But I will, in keeping with my tradition, vote for cloture,” Collins said in an interview, referring to a vote to advance DeVos to a final vote.
With 52 Republicans, DeVos can afford to lose 2 GOP votes. Lisa Murkowski (AK) is the only other Republican who appears undecided on DeVos at this point. Should Murkowski eventually vote “NO”, Vice President Mike Pence would break the 50-50 tie.
This assumes that Jeff Sessions of Alabama votes for DeVoss. He has abstained from some but not all confirmation votes while he awaits his vote to be Attorney General.
If Sessions is confirmed before DeVos and Murkowski were to join Collins as “NO” votes, Republicans would have to wait until the Governor of Alabama appointed a replacement for Sessions (that replacement will serve until a special election is held for the rest of Session’s term).
Defeating DeVos remains a long shot for Democrats but the chance has increased greatly with Collin’s “leaning”.
Our current estimate map:
