In making her pitch to senators, Nikki Haley avoided the stumbles that had plagued Rex Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil CEO whom Trump has nominated as secretary of state. | Getty Nikki Haley confirmed as ambassador to United Nations

Nikki Haley is headed from the South Carolina statehouse to the world stage.

The Senate on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the Republican governor's nomination as the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as Democrats put up little of the resistance they have to some of President Donald Trump’s other Cabinet picks.


Haley was approved on a 96-4 vote. The daughter of Indian immigrants will be one of the few women and minorities in Trump’s Cabinet, and some on the left hope she will be a moderating force in the new administration.

Haley impressed lawmakers from both parties by taking a tough stance toward Russia, praising international alliances such as NATO, and calling out human rights violations in countries such as the Philippines. Some of these stances, however, put her at odds with the new Republican president, and it remains unclear how she will square her positions with what Trump will demand she do while at the United Nations.

Haley has little foreign policy experience, but she argued during her confirmation hearing earlier this month that her executive experience as South Carolina's governor gave her deal-making and coalition-building skills that will come in handy in dealing with the more than 190 member states at the United Nations. She also stressed that she will ensure that U.N. priorities are aligned with U.S. priorities, including by defending Israel when it is singled out for condemnation.

In making her pitch to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which approved her nomination on a voice vote earlier Tuesday, Haley avoided the stumbles that had plagued Rex Tillerson, the former ExxonMobil CEO whom Trump has nominated as secretary of state.

Tillerson took a softer line on Russia than many senators were comfortable with, and he appeared lukewarm on pushing for human rights. Unlike Haley, Tillerson would not say he believed that Russia was committing war crimes in the Syrian city of Aleppo. Tillerson squeaked by the Foreign Relations committee on a party line 11-10 vote on Monday, but it's not yet clear when the full Senate will take up his nomination.

In announcing that he would vote against Tillerson, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, the committee’s ranking Democrat, negatively compared Tillerson’s performance to Haley’s.

On Tuesday, Cardin praised Haley on a number of fronts, including her insistence that she did not support a "slash and burn" approach to cutting U.S. funding to the United Nations over its perceived mistakes. He and others also expressed admiration for how Haley handled the tragic 2015 mass shooting deaths of nine African Americans at a Charleston church and the decision afterward to remove the Confederate flag from the state Capitol grounds.

"I was extremely impressed about her competency as governor of South Carolina," Cardin said as the full Senate prepared to vote.

Only a handful of Democrats opposed Haley's nomination.

Among them was Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, who said he was concerned about Haley's lack of experience. "The position of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations requires a high level of expertise on international affairs, not someone who will be learning on the job," the senator said in a statement.