Top Senate-confirmed Political Appointments Over Time
Secretaries, deputy secretaries and undersecretaries only
Several of President Trump’s high-profile appointees will be confirmed in the first few days of his second term. Data for Trump’s nominations and confirmations will be added to this page in the coming weeks.
Methodological notes
- Nominations that were returned and resubmitted soon after are combined.
- Numbers shown reset at the beginning of each four-year term.
- The average days for President Biden (109.6) includes nominations that were confirmed or returned through Nov. 27, 2023.
More Resources & Recommendations
Learn more about The Washington Post Political Appointee Tracker
Launched in 2016, the Political Appointee Tracker has been following roughly 800 of the 1,200 political appointed positions that require Senate confirmation, including Cabinet secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsels and ambassadors.
Reducing Confirmed Positions
Read more about our specific policy recommendations to help the Senate focus their oversight on critical nominations.
Unconfirmed: Reducing Number Senate Confirmed Positions
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