Know a Nominee: Antony Blinken to be Secretary of State

UPDATE 1/26/21 (12:40pm ET)

• The Senate voted to confirm Antony Blinken on a bipartisan vote of 79-21.

The Senate is expected to vote on the nomination of Antony Blinken to be Secretary of State in the near future. Here’s what you need to know about the nominee.

Who is Antony Blinken?

• Blinken, 58, served as deputy secretary of state, the nation’s second highest-ranking diplomat, from 2015-2017 after he previously served as principal deputy national security advisor to President Barack Obama.
• Blinken also worked in the Clinton administration as a National Security Council staffer from 1994-2001, and as the Democratic staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 2002 to 2008.

What’s the outlook for his nomination?

• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced Blinken's nomination on a bipartisan 15-3 vote, with only three Republicans opposed.
• During his confirmation hearing, Blinken stated that he agreed with the Trump administration’s to designate China’s persecution of the Uyghur Muslim minorities as “genocide” and moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, which indicates those policies are unlikely to change during the Biden administration if he’s confirmed.
• Blinken was confirmed as deputy secretary of state in 2014 on a mostly party-line vote, and the only two Republicans who voted in favor of his confirmation have since retired.

What does it mean for the State Dept.?

• The State Dept. leads the nation in diplomatic foreign policy issues, negotiates treaties and agreements with foreign entities, and represents the U.S. at the United Nations.
• The secretary of state is fourth in the line of succession to the presidency behind the vice president, the speaker of the House, and the Senate’s president pro tempore.

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: Blinken: U.S. Embassy Seoul via Flickr / Public Domain | State Dept. Seal: DonkeyHotey via Flickr / Creative Commons)