The Senate confirmed Keith Sonderling as secretary of labor on Wednesday night, approving President Trump's nominee 47 to 41 in the chamber's last order of business before senators left Washington to campaign for the midterm elections.
The roll call followed party lines without exception. Every one of the 47 votes in favor came from a Republican, and the 41 votes against came from Democrats and the Senate's two independents. Twelve senators did not vote. Earlier that afternoon, the Senate had voted 53 to 47 to cut off debate on the nomination.
Sonderling has run the department as acting secretary since late April, when Lori Chavez-DeRemer left the job for a position in the private sector. Trump announced on June 29 that he would nominate him for the post, saying Sonderling had "proven his dedication to delivering strong results for the Hardworking People of our Country." The nomination formally reached the Senate in July.
He has worked in the department in several roles over his career, first as a senior adviser during Trump's first term. He later served as a Republican member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and taught the laws the department enforces as an adjunct professor at George Washington University. He also practiced employment and labor law at Gunster, a firm based in West Palm Beach, Fla. The Senate confirmed him as deputy labor secretary on March 12, 2025, shortly after Trump's second term began.
"I am honored to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 31st Secretary of Labor," Sonderling wrote on X after the vote. He pledged to work every day so that the country's workers and job creators have a Department of Labor that is "accountable, effective and responsive to their needs."
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the committee that sent the nomination to the floor, said as it advanced that Sonderling was clearly qualified, adding that he was confident the nominee would "protect workers, help businesses create more jobs." Florida's two Republican senators, Rick Scott and Ashley Moody, introduced Sonderling at his confirmation hearing. Scott, who as governor gave Sonderling his first government post on a state judicial nominating commission, said "there is no one I know more qualified to be the next Secretary of Labor."
Democrats voted as a bloc against him, citing administration policies at the department, including its management of some Department of Education grant programs as Trump works to close that agency. At the confirmation hearing, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington criticized changes to overtime rules and the department's move to let employers classify more workers as independent contractors. "I fear any vote to confirm you is for more of the same: to strip overtime protections for our workers, to undercut our unions and to let giant corporations get away with robbery, literally," Murray told him.
Chavez-DeRemer's exit had followed multiple allegations that she abused the power of her position. In September, the department's inspector general released a 44-page report describing what it called a "toxic, intimidating and humiliating" work environment under her leadership. Sonderling appeared in it only briefly, in a section saying that Chavez-DeRemer and her chief of staff had grown to distrust him.