Despite Sen. Jeff Sessions' controversial past, the confirmation prospects for Donald Trump's pick for attorney general appear good. Sessions looks like a lock for confirmation Senate Democrats have no leverage to stop him unless Republicans defect.

Sen. Jeff Sessions is looking like a safe bet for Senate confirmation as attorney general — despite the Alabama lawmaker’s controversial past.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), a potential swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee, will support Sessions, a spokesman said Friday. That's a key pickup, given Flake's moderate views on immigration and social issues, and his opposition to Donald Trump during the campaign. Then moderate Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) said he would support Sessions as did moderate Republican Susan Collins of Maine, all but clinching his elevation.


If Sessions can clear committee, he’ll likely win a floor vote to become the nation’s top law enforcement official, GOP Senate insiders said. Republicans will likely have 52 votes in the next Congress, and Trump's Cabinet picks can't be filibustered because Democrats unilaterally changed Senate rules three years ago to eliminate the 60-vote threshold for most nominations.

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Sessions’ long history as a senior member of his committee bodes well for his confirmation prospects.

“He knows the Justice Department as a former U.S. attorney, which would serve him very well in this position. With this background, I'm confident he would be reported favorably out of the committee,” Grassley said in a statement.

The new top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, declined to take a hard line against Sessions despite their divergent views. She said the GOP senator will go through a “full and fair process.”

“Senator Sessions has served on the Senate Judiciary Committee for many years so he’s well aware of the thorough vetting he’s about to receive,” Feinstein said. “While many of us have worked with Senator Sessions closely and know him to be a staunch advocate for his beliefs, the process will remain the same: a fair and complete review of the nominee.”

While Democrats can mount a spirited campaign against Sessions for past charges of racism and his hard-right political positions, barring defections from Republicans they lack the votes to block him.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) hailed Sessions' selection and noted that Democrats confirmed Eric Holder, President Barack Obama's first attorney general, days after Obama was inaugurated.

"I look forward to the Senate’s fair and expeditious treatment of our colleague’s forthcoming nomination, just as it promptly processed President Obama’s first Attorney General nomination, which concluded with a timely up or down vote,” McConnell said in a statement.

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), a judiciary panel member, said that just because he and Sessions "work out in the gym" together does not mean the southerner's senatorial status would "absolve him from answering tough questions in the confirmation process."

"Given some of his past statements and his staunch opposition to immigration reform, I am very concerned about what he would do with the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice and want to hear what he has to say," Schumer said in a statement.

“We’ll be honoring decisions that they made when they were in the same position,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) of the GOP’s plans to keep the lower voting threshold in place.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy. Democrats are likely to mount a pressure campaign to block Sessions on the floor. And given next year’s narrow majority, Trump can lose a maximum of only three Republicans if Democrats vote as a bloc against him. But with Collins's support, it will be hard to find enough Republicans to stop the Alabama senator.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a Judiciary panel member who opposed Trump’s presidential bid, hailed Sessions in a statement on Friday for having “the experience and ability to serve as Attorney General.”

With the expected support of Flake and Graham, Sessions seems likely to get out of committee, even if it is on a party-line vote. One wild card is the committee ratios: Currently, Senate Republicans have two more members than Democrats, but one of them is Sessions himself.

McConnell and Schumer must negotiate the committee ratios for a more narrowly divided Senate next year, which could have a major impact on Sessions’ appointment if Democrats uniformly vote against the Alabama senator. Republicans have lost two seats and are likely to have a 52-seat majority, pending the results of a runoff election in Louisiana to replace GOP Sen. David Vitter.

Other Judiciary Committee Democrats were cautious in their early comments.

“Although a respected colleague, Senator Sessions deserves and no doubt expects the same exacting, serious scrutiny that any other Attorney General nominee would receive,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) in a statement.

Sessions was tapped for a federal judgeship on the U.S. District Court for Alabama 30 years ago, but his nomination failed in committee after an African-American former assistant U.S. attorney testified that Sessions had called him “boy” and told him to “be careful what you say around white folks.” Another witness testified that he had called the NAACP and ACLU “un-American” as well as “Communist-inspired.”

Sessions is a vocal critic of marijuana legalization and could face questions over drug policy during his confirmation, given that 28 states have legalized medical marijuana use in some form as of this month's election. His defenders are likely to point to his work with Democrats and the Obama administration on a law signed in 2010 that curbed the federal sentencing disparity for cocaine possession.

More recently, Sessions has battled with his colleagues over immigration and criminal justice reform. But early indications are that Republicans won’t hold his differing policy views against him. Sessions is a cordial and affable presence in the Capitol, with a signature Southern drawl and a courtly manner that rarely produces ugly conflicts with his colleagues.

Sessions’ ascendance would deprive Trump of his strongest backer in the Senate, someone with a direct conduit to GOP leadership. Immediately after the election, Sessions was one of the first people to visit with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

A spokesman for Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who is close to Sessions but has pushed criminal justice reform against Sessions’ opposition, will support the Alabama Republican.

“Sen. Sessions’ solid understanding of the Constitution and firm commitment to the rule of law is exactly what the Justice Department needs,” Lee said. “He will make a great Attorney General for all Americans."

While Sessions is a well-respected four-term senator, he can only be considered “establishment” within the Trump administration. For months he was the only GOP senator to back Trump. And the senator’s positions on trade, immigration and fiscal policy appeared well outside the Republican mainstream — until Trump adopted them.

He fought immigration reform vehemently in 2013 and a year later saw his hopes for chairing the Senate Budget Committee derailed as Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), a more reliable supporter of leadership, was installed in the role. From there, Sessions turned toward killing efforts for a massive new trade deal with Pacific Rim countries, leading the charge against the Trans-Pacific Partnership as Trump railed against it on the campaign trail.

Sessions said he himself is a microcosm of the party, having previously supported trade deals that he said did little for working Americans.

“These agreements have not produced well, nothing like what’s been promised,” Sessions said in an interview this summer as he endured vice presidential speculation. “I’ve changed my view. I voted for most of them, almost all of them. And it’s not working out real well.”

If Sessions is confirmed, Alabama’s governor will select an interim replacement. A special election to replace Sessions, a 20-year Senate veteran, would follow.