President Donald Trump‘s Cabinet pick Robert Kennedy Jr. squeaked through to advance his nomination for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. 

Kennedy, a former Democrat, is a controversial nominee who was put under the microscope for his stances on vaccinations, abortion and for promoting conspiracy theories. 

He needed the support of every Senate Republican on the Senate Finance Committee for his nomination to move forward to a full vote in the Senate, and in the end, he squeaked through. 

Every Republican voted in favor of advancing his nomination while every Democrat on the committee voted against. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician, had major concerns with Kennedy’s ever-changing position on vaccines. 

But it appears Trump and his MAGA allies successfully pressured the senator to back Kennedy, getting him over the procedural hurdle. 

Trump made a last-ditch plea to Cassidy in a Truth Social post ahead of the vote noting the rise in autism in the U.S.

’20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT,’ he wrote.

A few minutes later, Cassidy announced he would vote to advance Kennedy’s nomination. 

‘I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning,’ Cassidy wrote on X.

‘I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel. With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes,’ he said ahead of the vote. 

The Senate will now set up a final confirmation vote for Kennedy in the coming days as Trump pushes through his top advisers. 

Kennedy isn’t Trump’s first Cabinet nominee to face a grueling confirmation process. Tulsi Gabbard also has a tough committee vote scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

The vote came after Kennedy faces two brutal confirmation hearings last week on Capitol Hill. 

The first was before the Senate Finance Committee where lawmakers raised his past anti-vaccine work, and he was slammed by Democrats for promoting conspiracy theories. 

Senators also raised questions about how he would handle Medicare and Medicaid and expressed concerns after he appeared to confuse key details about the programs.

Some Republican senators also pressed him for reassurances about his stance on abortion after the former Democrat previously said he was pro-abortion rights and completely reversed course after throwing his support behind Trump.

One day later, Kennedy went before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee for a second hearing. 

In both hearings, Kennedy insisted he was pro-vaccine and pro-science and would follow the data. But some lawmakers were not convinced as Kennedy refused to state the data was already there leaving room for doubt.

Cassidy, who chairs the HELP Committee, grilled Kennedy over his stance on vaccines and pressed him to deny there were a link between vaccines and autism, but Kennedy would not unequivocally say it.

Ahead of the committee vote to advance Kennedy as the nominee, Senator Maria Cantwell raised Kennedy’s responses to Cassidy before every Democrat voted ‘no.’

 ‘He couldn’t even give him the answer that “yes the data is there to support vaccines today. I don’t need any more data,”‘ Cantwell blasted Kennedy.

‘I need someone at HHS who is going to say “we’re going to be a leader in medical technology, science, vaccines. We’re going to fight foreign powers. We’re going to be there to provide global health, and I don’t want a recalcitrant,’ she added.

‘Peddling these conspiracy theories as the nation’s chief health care officer will be deadly for kids across the country,’ warned Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Oreg.) 

But Republican committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) praised Kennedy as a leading advocate for health care transparency.

At the end of the hearing, the senator said he was ‘struggling’ with Kennedy’s over his past statements which undermined confidence in childhood vaccines. 

While the HELP committee would not vote to advance Kennedy’s nomination Cassidy also sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which does vote.

Heading into Tuesday, Cassidy who is up for reelection in 2026, was facing immense pressure from Kennedy backers to vote for the nominee. 

As of Monday evening, he was still undecided on how he would vote before voting yes on Tuesday morning.

But speaking on the floor of the Senate after voting him out of committee, Cassidy spoke about his work as a doctor dealing with vaccine preventible diseases and stated ‘vaccines save lives.’

Cassidy said that when it comes to vaccines, the science is good and a crucial part of the country’s pubic health response, and vaccines remained his sticking point.

 ‘Mr. Kennedy and the administration committed that he and I would have an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship if he is confirmed,’ Cassidy said. 

‘We will meet or speak multiple times a month. This collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore to be more effective,’ Cassidy claimed. 

He also said Kennedy has committed to working within current vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and will keep the CDC advisory committee’s recommendations on vaccine practices without changes.

Kennedy’s confirmation will soon go before the full Senate. It remains unclear whether any Republicans in the majority will vote against him. 

He can lose up to three GOP votes and still be confirmed with Vice President Vance casting the tie-breaker even if every single Democrat votes against him.