Luke Pettit and Anthony Tata Secure Senate Confirmations
Pettit will serve in the Treasury Department while Tata joins the Pentagon.
The U.S. Senate today held recorded votes to confirm two individual nominated by President Donald Trump to serve in the executive branch of government - specifically in the U.S. Departments of the Treasury and Defense.
In a 69-30 vote, Luke Pettit was confirmed as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions. The position has been held by two separate acting officials since January 2024, when Graham Steele resigned after serving since December 2021.
52 Republicans and 17 Democrats approved Pettit’s nomination. 28 Democrats and two Independents voted in opposition. Senator Dave McCormick (R-PA) did not vote.
Pettit was nominated to this position by Trump in February 2025. Since January 2022, he has been a Senior Policy Advisor to Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee.
Previously, Pettit worked as a financial analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from July 2013 to January 2015, as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. from January 2015 to December 2019, and as a research associate at Bridgewater Associates from January 2020 to February 2021. He also was an economist to the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs from February 2021 to January 2022.
In a 52-46 vote, Anthony Tata was confirmed as Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. The position has been held by three separate acting officials since September 2023, when Gil Cisneros resigned after serving since August 2021.
52 Republicans approved Tata’s nomination. 44 Democrats and two Independents voted in opposition. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dave McCormick (R-PA) did not vote.
Tata was nominated to this position by Trump in February 2025. In 1981, he joined the U.S. Army. He left active service in 2009 with the rank of Brigadier General.
After his military career, Tata served as Chief Operating Officer of the District of Columbia Public Schools from 2009 to 2010 and Superintendent of the Wake County (NC) Public School System from 2010 to 2012. From January 2013 to July 2015, he was Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation. He then became a political commentator on Fox News.
In spring 2020, Tata joined the U.S. Department of Defense as Senior Advisor to Secretary Mark Esper. In June 2020, Trump nominated him to be Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. However, his nomination was withdrawn due to controversial and conspiratorial Twitter posts. Nevertheless, he remained a Senior Official performing the duties of Pentagon officials until the end of Trump’s first term in January 2021.