Pete Hegseth cleared a procedural hurdle Thursday to advance his confirmation to lead the Defense Department for a final Senate vote, setting up a high-stakes showdown.

A Princeton and Harvard-educated former combat veteran, Hegseth went on to make a career at Fox News, where he hosted a weekend show. Trump tapped him as the defense secretary to lead an organization with nearly 2.1 million service members, about 780,000 civilians and a budget of $850 billion.

Senators voted 51-49 to advance Hegseth's defense secretary bid, which has been mired in a series of controversies.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters Wednesday that she was concerned that the FBI’s background investigation report about secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth is said to

The Armed Services Committee is expected to hold Hegseth's confirmation hearing on Tuesday, ahead of President-elect Trump's inauguration.

Democrats have expressed concern over the delay and how thorough the report on Trump’s embattled defense secretary pick will be.

Pete Hegseth’s nomination as secretary of defense has continued to barrel toward confirmation, additional stream of details of his patent unfitness for office be damned. Indeed, Senate Republicans seem determined to elevate Donald Trump’s nominee to one of the most powerful positions in government despite more reporting around his alleged rampant abuse of women and alcohol,

Trump said that Hegseth would bring a new perspective to the Pentagon and rebuild the “most powerful military in the world.”

Sen. Roger Wicker, SAS Committee chairman, announced late Wednesday night that Hegseth still had the backing of Senate Republicans.

Though new reports on the former Fox & Friends co-host’s behavior have emerged, he’s likely to be confirmed as Defense secretary this week.

In a sworn affidavit, Pete Hegseth's former sister-in-law said Hegseth's ex-wife told her she at one point "feared for her personal safety" during her marriage to him.