Jennifer Granholm confirmed as energy secretary in Senate vote

Former Michigan governor encouraged clean energy in state

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm is officially headed back to political office.

Ten years after her second term as governor ended, Granholm on Thursday was confirmed as President Joe Biden’s energy secretary, taking over as head of a multibillion-dollar agency that oversees national laboratories, the U.S. nuclear arsenal and plays a significant role in funding technological innovation and adoption of new technologies.

The U.S. Senate voted 64-35 to confirm Granholm. All 48 Democrats, including Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, both D-Mich., voted in favor of her nomination as did the two independent senators who caucus with the Democrats, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine. Fourteen Republicans also voted to confirm Granholm.

That her nomination didn’t inspire more partisan animus was something of a surprise, given that Granholm, especially since leaving office in 2011, has been a Democratic strategist and analyst on CNN, where she regularly attacked Republican positions. But as if often the case, a number of Republicans voted to confirm believing the new president should be able to select his Cabinet advisers and acknowledging her experience as governor.

As governor from 20032011, Granholm served at a particularly harsh time for the Michigan economy, as job losses skyrocketed during the last major recession before last year’s outbreak of COVID-19. In Michigan, that was exacerbated by the threat that General Motors and Chrysler couldn’t pay their bills, which led to their rescue in 2008-9 by President George W. Bush and then President Barack Obama.

During the recession and Obama’s efforts to improve the economy — many of which were led by Biden as Obama’s vice president — Granholm pushed to diversify Michigan’s economy by encouraging clean energy initiatives and investment in electric vehicles, solar and wind technologies.