The Senate voted 85-13 on January 26 to confirm the highly qualified Condoleezza Rice as secretary of State. Later that same day, Rice was sworn in by White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, becoming the first-ever African-American woman to serve in that position.
With the sole exception of independent James Jeffords (Vt.), all of the senators who voted against Rice were Democrats. They were: Daniel Akaka (Hawaii), Evan Bayh (Ind.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Robert C. Byrd (W.Va.), Mark Dayton (Minn.), Richard Durbin (Ill.), Tom Harkin (Iowa), Teddy Kennedy (Mass.), John Kerry (Mass.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Carl Levin (Mich.), and Jack Reed (R.I.).
