President Barack Obama’s pick to be the next attorney general is winning over Republicans.

Loretta Lynch, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, has met privately with several Republican senators in recent weeks, earning some of their early support ahead of what is expected to be a contentious set of nomination hearings early next year.


So while Republicans have vowed to use the nomination process to take on Obama over his executive actions on immigration, Lynch’s early success suggests that the ugly fight won’t necessarily tank her prospects of becoming the nation’s next chief law enforcement official.

“I want to see what happens in the hearings,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said. “But certainly I’m supportive.”

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McCain and Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) all said in interviews they have met with Lynch privately and are inclined to vote in favor of her nomination.

“I would say yes, unless something comes up during the hearings,” Fischer said when asked if she was leaning toward backing Lynch.

The early initial support from Republicans — whose support Lynch will need to win confirmation next year — is critical as she continues to court senators to win their backing to lead the Justice Department and oversee its sweeping mandate, from terrorism to financial crimes, drug prosecutions and civil rights issues. Lynch would be the first black female attorney general if confirmed.

In particular, Republicans are eagerly awaiting the chance to grill Lynch on Obama’s executive actions on immigration issued in November, which will protect upwards of 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation and grant them work permits.

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Senate Republicans plan to make Lynch’s views on the reaches of executive power — particularly as it relates to immigration — a critical flashpoint of her confirmation hearings, making the attorney general fight a proxy war of sorts over Obama’s controversial immigration actions. Senate Democrats argue that Lynch’s views on executive action, and the Republican anger over Obama’s unilateral moves, shouldn’t sink confirmation to such a key Cabinet post.

“All I can tell you is that immigration is going to be a big part of it,” said incoming Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who declined to say whether he was inclined to support Lynch. “Not because of her views on immigration, but of the president’s action on immigration and the extent of what she feels he’s acted in a legal way.”

Nominations are one area where congressional Republicans have plotted their comeback to Obama’s executive actions. Just before the Senate closed up shop for the year, it confirmed Sarah Saldaña as director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a near party-line vote. Her comments that she supported Obama’s executive actions turned Republicans against her.

To be sure, the attorney general is a much higher-profile position than that of ICE director. Still, immigration is sure to be an area where Lynch will have to navigate carefully.

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When immigration surfaced during her meeting with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Lynch said she agreed with an opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel that said Obama’s executive action on immigration was legally sound, telling the senator the opinion was “well-reasoned.”

“We didn’t get into the details, but she’ll have to explain what that means,” Graham said. But “I’m not going to just say that anyone who disagrees with me about a particular legal issue is not qualified to serve.”

After discussing immigration and other topics with Lynch, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) concluded: “She supports the president’s executive order, as do I.”

Some Senate Republicans said Lynch’s views on the legality of Obama’s actions on immigration — though all but certain to be among the first questions she’ll get before the committee — won’t necessarily serve as the litmus test for their support.

“I’d be interested in her opinion,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has not yet met with the nominee, said of Lynch’s views on executive action. “I’m not sure that in and of itself would determine my vote.”

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But other conservatives are already gearing up to vigorously fight Lynch’s confirmation on immigration grounds. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), who will join the Judiciary Committee next year, said Lynch’s confirmation is one of the first battlegrounds in the new Congress to fight Obama’s so-called “executive amnesty” and so far, he appears to be the first senator who has publicly opposed Lynch’s confirmation. He reasoned: “The attorney general is one of the linchpins to Obama’s amnesty plan.”

Few can question Lynch on her credentials, including Republicans who have praised her polished résumé. The career prosecutor has already been confirmed twice by the Senate as U.S. attorney in New York, and that position has given her the background in key issues faced by the Justice Department daily.

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She has few personal ties to the White House or Obama himself — helping her avoid the animus from Republicans that could have imperiled other candidates once considered for the attorney general job, including Labor Secretary Tom Perez and former White House counsel Kathy Ruemmler.

“She’s a very pleasant person,” said Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and one of the biggest critics of Obama’s immigration actions. “And on paper, she has the background that is positive for the job.”

In all, Lynch has met with about a third of the Senate’s members, a Justice Department official said, including 14 members of the Judiciary Committee. Those courtesy visits are expected to resume in the new year, the official said.

The one-on-one private sessions with senators don’t last too long, and many of the details about her views on hot-button legal issues won’t come until her confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee next year.

When she sat down with her home-state Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on the first day of her charm offensive, Schumer said, the two recalled how the senator begged her to return to the U.S. attorney’s office for a second time, when she had been working at a lucrative law firm. In her meeting with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in early December, the two began with a casual banter about Thanksgiving. With Sessions, he and Lynch talked about their shared experiences as federal prosecutors (Sessions was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama before coming to Congress).

With the national spotlight on police brutality — following cases in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City — several senators discussed policing tactics in state and local governments, as well as the recent demonstrations nationwide on the issue. McCain, Blumenthal and Graham all said the issue was raised during their private meetings, with Blumenthal, a member of the Judiciary Committee and a former state attorney general, calling the nominee “very thoughtful and insightful” on the topic.

Lynch, in her capacity as U.S. attorney, is overseeing the federal probe in the New York case, where Eric Garner died after being placed in a chokehold by police. She is unlikely to weigh in publicly on the particulars while the investigation is ongoing, which is expected to continue into the new year.

The so-called politicization of the Justice Department — a frequent accusation from its Republican critics — was another topic that surfaced during Lynch’s visits with senators. Fischer, the Nebraska Republican, pressed Lynch on how she, as the attorney general, would correct the perception that the Justice Department has become “too political,” the senator said.

“I told her it was true that the American people had built a perception that the Department of Justice was too political and if that perception grows, it undermines the ability of law to be enforced in America,” added Sessions.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said he asked Lynch about the issue of so-called selective enforcement, when officials exercise discretion on law enforcement. Lynch’s responses to her questions, Corker said, “could use some sharpening,” and he added that he left with “some questions.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a senior member of the panel, said that while he hasn’t yet sat down with Lynch, she “looks pretty good to me.”

“And if conservatives do want to get rid of the attorney general, this is a good option,” Hatch added, referring to current Attorney General Eric Holder. “She would replace him and do a very good job.”

Grassley, who as the incoming Judiciary chairman will oversee Lynch’s confirmation hearings, said his staff was already deep into examining her paperwork and taking other preliminary steps to prepare for the hearings. He did not set a time frame for those hearings, but indicated that he wanted to take it up promptly, saying there is “no point in stalling.”

Grassley, who persistently presses Obama administration officials on various oversight matters, said during his sit-down with Lynch, he handed one of her aides a stack of papers — measuring about an inch and a half — filled with questions that Grassley said had gone unanswered under Holder’s Justice Department.

He then told Lynch that he always asks Cabinet nominees — whether Democrat or Republican — to answer inquiries and attend committee hearings when asked. Though nominees always say they will, Grassley said he never gets the information he wants.

So he suggested to her: “Maybe when I ask you that question, you ought to say ‘maybe.’”

Lynch laughed, Grassley recalled.

Manu Raju contributed to this report.