WASHINGTON — In the hours after President-elect Donald Trump announced that vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was his pick to serve as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, mixed reactions began rolling in from the senators needed to support his confirmation.
Trump’s Cabinet selections will face Senate confirmation votes — and unconventional picks like Kennedy could face a bumpy process in a Republican-controlled Senate with little room for error.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., who Republicans tapped to be their new leader in the chamber, declined to provide a reaction to Kennedy’s selection, saying, “I don’t have any at this point.”
Thune ducked a question about whether he would support Kennedy’s confirmation, saying that the process “is just getting started” and adding that there would be “a vetting process.”
“I’m not going to make any judgments about any of these folks at this point, like I said, it’s a confirmation process that we have to adhere to constitutionally,” said Thune, when asked whether he thinks Kennedy is qualified. “There are committees that are going to be conducting hearings, and there’ll be plenty of scrutiny of these nominees records when the time comes.”
Other Republican senators immediately expressed enthusiasm with Trump’s pick.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., praised Kennedy in a statement, though he did not say how he planned to vote. Cassidy is currently the ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee and is considered a contender for chairing the committee in the next Congress.
“I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda,” Cassidy said.
Several Republican senators praised Kennedy in posts to X, with Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson calling him “a brilliant, courageous truth-teller,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville describing Kennedy as “an absolutely brilliant pick” and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley saying the announcement marked a “bad day for Big Pharma.”
Across the aisle, many Democrats immediately condemned Kennedy’s selection, characterizing it as “dangerous” and “disturbing.”
“Mr. Kennedy’s outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and should worry all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a post to X that Kennedy was “Dangerous. Unqualified. Unserious.”
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., called two of Trump’s recent decisions “the definition of insanity,” and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., slammed Trump’s selection, saying, “This could not be more dangerous.”
“There’s no telling how far an anti-vaxxer & fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set America back in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research, & more,” Murray wrote in a post to X. “And the consequences are not theoretical — they’re life or death issues.”
Kennedy has repeatedly criticized vaccines, touting widely debunked false claims that they are tied to autism.
NBC News has reached out to Trump’s team for comment on criticism of the president-elect’s selection.
But at least one Democrat expressed enthusiasm about Kennedy’s selection.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said in a post to X that he was “excited by the news,” adding that Kennedy “will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA.” As a governor, he will not have a vote in Kennedy’s confirmation.
When reached for further comment, a Polis spokesperson pointed NBC News to the governor having “clarified his tweet” in a later post, in which Polis said that “science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy.”
“Lest there by any doubt, I am vaccinated as is my family. I will hold any HHS Secretary to the same high standard of protecting and improving public health,” Polis added in the later post.
In the next session of Congress, Republicans will hold at least 52 seats in the Senate, and they may pick up another seat depending on the outcome of Pennsylvania’s Senate race, which is heading for a recount. NBC News has not yet projected the winner.
