The Senate confirmed Keith Sonderling as President Donald Trump’s labor secretary Wednesday night, formally putting him in charge of the department he has led on an acting basis since April.
Sonderling was confirmed 47-41 in a largely party-line vote shortly before senators left Washington for the final stretch of the midterm campaign.
Twelve senators did not vote. All Republicans who participated supported Sonderling, while all Democrats who voted opposed him. Earlier Wednesday, the Senate voted 53-47 to invoke cloture and clear the way for his final confirmation.
“I am honored to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the 31st Secretary of Labor,” Sonderling said Thursday. He thanked Trump for his support and pledged to make the Labor Department “accountable, effective, and responsive” to workers and employers.
Sonderling has effectively been running the department for months. The Senate originally confirmed him as deputy labor secretary in March 2025. Trump then designated him acting secretary on April 20 following the resignation of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.
Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican congresswoman from Oregon, left the administration after slightly more than a year in the Cabinet. Her departure came amid an investigation into allegations of misconduct at the department.
The Labor Department’s inspector general subsequently reported allegations involving misuse of government resources, personal travel and workplace behavior. Chavez-DeRemer disputed allegations against her, saying in April that claims about her conduct had been pushed by “high-ranked deep state actors.”
Trump turned to Sonderling, a veteran labor and employment lawyer with extensive experience inside the federal government. The president announced in June that he wanted Sonderling to take over the department permanently, and the nomination was formally submitted to the Senate in July.
Sonderling’s federal experience stretches back to Trump’s first administration. He served as acting and deputy administrator of the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division from 2017 until 2020.
Trump later appointed him to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where Sonderling served as a commissioner from September 2020 until August 2024 and as the commission’s vice chairman from 2020 to 2021.
Before entering government, Sonderling was a partner at the Florida law firm Gunster, where he represented employers in labor and employment matters. He has also taught employment law at George Washington University Law School.
Sonderling’s nomination received strong support from business organizations, which have praised his approach to employment regulation. During his time at the Labor Department, Sonderling has supported policies making it easier in some circumstances for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees.
He has also backed changes limiting when companies can be held jointly responsible for wage violations committed by contractors and franchisees.
