A couple of hours into Loretta Lynch's lengthy confirmation hearing to be attorney general on Wednesday, Senator John Cornyn boiled the whole thing down to a single question.

"You're not Eric Holder, are you?"

"No, I'm not, sir," Lynch replied, as the crowded Senate room broke out in laughter.

With that response, she probably clinched the job. Lynch is the first prominent nominee of President Obama's to be considered by the Republican Senate majority, and the biggest incentive conservative lawmakers have for approving her nomination is to get Holder out of the Justice Department. Republicans grilled Lynch on many issues Wednesday, most aggressively on the legality of Obama's executive action on immigration. But at times, the hearing sounded more like an airing of GOP grievances against Holder than a job interview for his replacement.

For most of his six years as attorney general, Holder has had a notoriously toxic relationship with Republicans. The GOP-led House voted to hold him in contempt in 2012 over the Justice Department's refusal to turn over documents related to the "Fast and Furious" gun-running operation, and in recent years Holder has had heated exchanges with Republican lawmakers while testifying on Capitol Hill.