Washington DC - President Donald Trump has secured another administration official after the Senate confirmed South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security.

According to ABC News, the Senate voted 59–34 on Saturday morning, with all Republicans voting in favor of her appointment.

Seven Democrats also voted yes as well, including Sen. John Fetterman, Tim Kaine, Andy Kim, Scott Peters, Jeanne Shaheen, and Alisa Slotkin.

Noem will now be tasked with overseeing 22 agencies with more than 260,000 employees that handle a range of things, such as border control and federal disaster management.

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In an X post following her confirmation, Noem thanked President Trump "for the confidence in me to serve" in the role and promised she would "work to make America SAFE again!"

Noem marks the fourth appointment to be confirmed, following Marco Rubio as Secretary of State, John Ratcliffe as CIA Director, and former Fox News anchor Pete Hegseth as head of the Department of Defense.

After Trump announced her nomination in November, Noem faced relentless backlash for a controversial excerpt from her memoir in which she told the story of how she fatally shot her 14-month-old dog, Cricket, because she believed he was "untrainable."

Trump was rumored to have considered Noem to be his vice president, but a source said it was "impossible" for him to choose her after the incident angered critics on both sides of the aisle.