Former Michigan Gov. Granholm Confirmed As Energy Secretary

Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm on Thursday was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be energy secretary after being appointed by President Joe Biden in December.

The vote was 64-35, with all Democrats and 14 Republicans voting in favor of Granholm's confirmation. She was sworn in late Thursday and is just the second woman to serve as energy secretary, according to The Associated Press.

"I'm obsessed with creating good-paying clean energy jobs in all corners of America in service of addressing our climate crisis," Granholm tweeted Thursday. "I'm impatient for results. Now let's get to work!''

Shortly after her confirmation, current Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer congratulated Granholm in a statement.

“Our former Governor will be a visionary leader at the Department of Energy and continue her passionate, decades-long advocacy for clean energy," Whitmer said. "She is also breaking barriers once again, as only the second woman to serve as Secretary of Energy after two terms as Michigan’s first female Governor.

"President Biden’s Cabinet is shaping up to the most diverse in our nation’s history, providing women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ a presence in the rooms where decisions are made. I look forward to working with Secretary Granholm as she addresses climate change, tackles the transition to clean energy, and works to build a more sustainable future. We have a lot to do, and together, we will."

Granholm, 62, served two terms as governor in a state dominated by the auto industry and devastated by the 2008 recession. She has promoted emerging clean energy technologies, such as electric vehicles and battery manufacturing, as an answer for jobs that will be lost as the U.S. transitions away from oil, coal and other fossil fuels, The Associated Press reported.

During her confirmation hearing last month, Granholm pushed her plans to embrace new wind and solar technologies.

Granholm assured lawmakers that creating jobs was her top priority — and Biden's, according to The Associated Press.

"We cannot leave our people behind. In West Virginia, and in other fossil fuel states, there is an opportunity for us to specialize in the technologies that reduce carbon emissions, to make those technologies here, to put people to work here, and to look at other ways to diversify,'' she said at her Jan. 27 hearing.

The Associated Press reported that during her introduction as Biden's nominee, Granholm described arriving in the U.S. at age 4, brought from Canada by a family "seeking opportunity." She said her father found work as a bank teller and retired as head of the bank.

"It's because of my family's journey and my experience in fighting for hardworking Michigan families that I have become obsessed ... with gaining good-paying jobs in America in a global economy," she said.

Information and reporting from The Associated Press contributed to this report.