Facing a phalanx of fellow senators who held his nomination as homeland security secretary in their hands, Markwayne Mullin sat on the opposite side of a dais at his confirmation hearing last week and offered a promise.
“We’re going to work with you,” Mr. Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma and decade-long veteran of the House, told a Senate Democrat. “But most importantly, I think everybody on this dais has my personal cellphone. That cellphone isn’t going to change. And if you call me, you’re going to get a response. If you text me, you’re going to get a response.”
In the end, Mr. Mullin’s vow, which he repeated a second time later in the hearing, did not win him broad bipartisan support at a time when the two parties are deeply divided over immigration enforcement under the department he is poised to lead. But it may have cleared the way for two Democrats to join all but one Republican to confirm him on Monday night, in a 54-to-45vote.
And whether they voted for him or not, senators from across the ideological spectrum suggested that they had been encouraged by a characteristic that has been notably lacking in most of President Trump’s other cabinet choices: Mr. Mullin is someone they know well and believe they can work with.
Senator Martin Heinrich, one of two Democrats to cross party lines and support his confirmation, explained his vote by citing his working relationship with Mr. Mullin. In a statement, he said that he trusted that Mr. Mullin, whom he called a friend, would not “be bullied” by White House officials and that he would work with Congress more constructively than his predecessor, Kristi Noem. (Despite having served for eight years in the House, Ms. Noem did not enjoy the same kind of warm relationships with members of the Senate, particularly among Democrats, and came to be regarded by many members in both parties as unresponsive and ineffective.)
“I would like a secretary who I can call and have a constructive conversation with,” Mr. Heinrich said.
It remains to be seen whether that dynamic will hold, particularly as Mr. Mullin takes the reins of a department that oversees Mr. Trump’s divisive immigration enforcement policies.
The Senate has been locked in a stalemate for more than a month over funding the Homeland Security Department. In private talks with a House Democrat, Mr. Mullin, who has carved out a role as a liaison between Congress and the White House, had been discussing concessions that went further than Mr. Trump’s team had been willing to in the talks. As secretary, he may be required to adopt a sterner posture toward compromise.
Still, Mr. Mullin’s confirmation was something of a throwback to a bygone era when presidents sought agency and department heads who would easily attract bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, and who could quickly win the trust of lawmakers there.
When Democrats controlled the Senate in 2013, they changed the rules to allow most presidential nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority rather than a supermajority. In the era of the closely divided Senate, that has effectively relieved presidents of the burden of choosing nominees acceptable to the minority party, since their votes are no longer needed.
In choosing Mr. Mullin, Mr. Trump, intentionally or not, revived what had once been the status quo: a cabinet-level pick whose personal connections could outweigh some lawmakers’ political concerns.
Even as Democrats challenged Mr. Mullin over his views and the Trump administration’s policies, they were at times quick to note that they had no doubt about his character.
“I do know you very personally and we’ve gotten to work together,” said Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, as he questioned Mr. Mullin over his views on the 2020 election. “I think you’re an upstanding guy, and I reject this idea that you’re not qualified for this job, 100 percent.”
Mr. Gallego was absent for the vote on Monday.
Republicans, too, signaled that Mr. Mullin’s collegiality put them at ease. Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, told reporters that she expected Mr. Mullin to be more responsive to lawmakers’ concerns than Ms. Noem had been.
“You couldn’t get a return phone call from the Department of Homeland Security on anything,” Ms. Lummis said. “And that’s never been the case with any other agency.”
When Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, asked Mr. Mullin how he would address a lag in providing data to Congress, Mr. Mullin acknowledged their shared résumés, then swore to “work with any committee to make sure that we are getting the information you need to do your job.”
There were other signs that Mr. Mullin’s affability, which has made him popular with Democrats and Republicans, eased his path. Mr. Mullin moved through his confirmation process in 18 days. Even as Senator Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, vented his personal animus toward Mr. Mullin and voted against his nomination, he did not impede the process.
By contrast, Mr. Trump’s pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, was nominated last May. She had a confirmation hearing last month and has yet to be advanced to the full Senate for a vote.
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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