All Republicans voted in favor of Patel on the key procedural vote, and lawmakers signaled that a final vote to confirm him will take place Thursday.

Amid the vote, some Republicans voiced their support for Patel, a controversial firebrand and former national security official who has vowed to curb what he describes as a politicized FBI.

“I’ve spoken to multiple people I respect about Kash Patel this weekend—both for and against. The ones who worked closely with Kash vouched for him. I will vote for his confirmation,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), an occasional swing vote, wrote on X.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), another centrist and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which was responsible for vetting Patel, has become one of Patel’s most vocal supporters.

“We need to confirm @Kash_Patel,” Tillis wrote on X on Tuesday.

Patel’s nomination has become a highly partisan ordeal. He has drawn widespread support from Republicans and garnered endorsements from retired FBI agents and major police associations, but Democrats and some former Trump appointees, such as former Attorney General Bill Barr, vehemently oppose his nomination and have deemed him unqualified for the job.

Patel worked as a lawyer and in the Department of Defense and intelligence community roles in the first Trump administration. His work as lead counsel on the House Intelligence Committee in 2018 is what first put him on Trump’s radar, however. At the time, Patel drafted a widely circulated memo highlighting alleged flaws in the FBI’s investigation into alleged Trump-Russia collusion. Two inspector general reports later corroborated a portion of the memo, and Trump and Republicans touted it as a means of undermining the bureau’s investigation.

Senate Democrats have pointed to Patel promoting various conspiracy theories and his brash self-promotion during his hundreds of media appearances on mostly right-wing outlets in recent years as indications that he is unsuitable to lead the nation’s premier law enforcement agency.

Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats have also accused Patel of perjuring himself after ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) recently brought to light anonymous whistleblower allegations that Patel was improperly coordinating with the bureau to arrange employee firings before he is set to take the reins at the FBI. Patel had denied any such coordination during his confirmation hearing.

The allegation came amid weakened morale at the FBI after Trump and his Justice Department appointees ousted several top FBI executives and warned more firings were forthcoming depending on employees’ roles in the Jan. 6 investigation. Trump has signaled that anyone who handled the cases in what he viewed as an overzealous manner would be terminated.

Erika Knight, Patel’s spokeswoman, denied Durbin’s whistleblower claim and blamed the media for elevating it.

“Once again, the media is relying on anonymous sources and second-hand gossip to push a false narrative,” Knight said in a statement.