Senate confirms Kelly Craft as next U.N. ambassador

With a vote of 56-34, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Kelly Craft to become the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Craft is the current U.S. ambassador to Canada. Along with her husband, coal executive Joe Craft, she has donated millions of dollars to Republican candidates, including President Trump, and will be the first major political donor under any administration to occupy the U.N. post, The Associated Press reports.

A longtime GOP activist, Craft is friends with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who praised her work as ambassador to Canada from the Senate floor. Democrats were critical, pointing out that she spent more than half of her time as ambassador outside of Ottawa and has little to no diplomatic and policy experience. She has also made remarks skeptical of climate change, and during her confirmation hearing said as U.N. ambassador, she would be "an advocate for addressing climate change."

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The U.N. ambassador post has been vacant since December, when Nikki Haley stepped down. Trump first nominated former State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, but she took her name out of the running. During her confirmation hearing, Craft said that like Haley, she would be pro-Israel and try her best to reform the U.N.