The Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday approved Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to become the next director of national intelligence, setting the stage for a floor vote for one of President Trump’s most contentious cabinet choices.
The vote, 9 to 8, was along party lines, with every Republican supporting Ms. Gabbard’s nomination and all Democrats in opposition.
While some Republicans harbor doubts about Ms. Gabbard, she won over the party members on the committee who were wavering, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, who had voted against Pete Hegseth to serve as defense secretary. Senator Todd Young of Indiana had also asked tough questions in the confirmation hearing but announced his support for Ms. Gabbard in a social media post before the vote.
As he walked into the committee room, Mr. Young said he had spoken to Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance about the vote. He said the written assurances Ms. Gabbard had given him were critical to winning him over.
“I’ve done my work,” Mr. Young said. “I’ve done my vetting.”
Ms. Collins announced Monday that she would support Ms. Gabbard, saying she shared her vision of shrinking the size of the office and returning it to its original role of coordinating among the spy agencies. That remains the office’s primary role, but it also has analysts and intelligence managers who do their own analytic work.
Over the weekend, Ms. Gabbard also got support from Elon Musk, who called Mr. Young a “deep state puppet” on his social media platform, X. Mr. Musk deleted the post shortly afterward and wrote that he had spoken to Mr. Young. “I stand corrected,” Mr. Musk wrote. “Senator Young will be a great ally in restoring power to the people from the vast, unelected bureaucracy.”