Can Norm Coleman get defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth over the finish line?

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Leading the entourage, Norm Coleman — Minnesota's last Republican senator — guides Donald Trump's secretary of defense nominee Pete Hegseth through the halls of the Senate.

Coleman has been a fixture at the Forest Lake native's side as Hegseth has met with senators day after day amid a barrage of unflattering headlines about his past that have made his path to confirmation an uphill climb.

"Nobody better than Senator Norm Coleman. It's been an absolute honor to work with him. I've known him for years," Hegseth said without taking further questions as he, Coleman and his entourage head into the office of Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., for their fifth meeting of the day.

At the start of the month, it looked like Hegseth might not get confirmed as questions about his drinking, sexual assault allegations and reports that Trump was weighing his replacement surfaced. But by the end of the first week of December, Hegseth had won Trump's public support and began ramping up meetings with senators, all with Coleman at his side.

When they emerge from Young's office after about an hour, Coleman moves to the front of the entourage tightly surrounding Hegseth. They quickly head to their last meeting that day, with incoming Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Mont. Hegseth will have met with more than 40 senators this week and is slated to meet with more in the new year, the Trump transition team said.

"Norm deserves a lot of credit for helping to reverse that momentum and put him back in a position where, I think today, most people think he's going to get confirmed," said former Minnesota Rep. Vin Weber, a close friend of Coleman.

In 2019, Coleman told MPR he hoped to "keep livin' until the clock runs out" as he was set to undergo cancer treatment after having beaten it twice already. Now, he's assumed what's become a high-profile role as a "sherpa," leading Hegseth into meetings with senators, some of whom the 75-year-old Coleman served with when he represented Minnesota in the Senate from 2003 to 2009.

Coleman declined to speak for this story, but those who know him say he and Hegseth have known each other for more than a decade, a relationship that began when Hegseth would frequent the former senator's office seeking advice on how he could advocate for veterans.

Though senators have the final say on Hegseth, Coleman vouching for him could earn the embattled nominee some credibility, especially from moderate Republican senators who are like-minded to Coleman, those close to the former Minnesota senator say.

In recent weeks, all eyes have been on Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; who have yet to say how they'll vote on Hegseth.

Collins, who previously chaired the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, made Coleman chair of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which oversees investigations into governmental operations and national security. Coleman and Graham were both elected to the 108th Congress. They came up together in the Senate and have remained close friends.

"He's been very helpful to Pete, very much so. Great reputation. Pete's from Minnesota, think they've known each other for a long time. Pete couldn't have a better person helping him. Norm is very well-respected," said Graham, who was initially skeptical of Hegseth but has since started defending him.

Pressed on whether Coleman helped him warm on Hegseth, Graham — who has stopped short of saying whether he'll support the confirmation — insists he will "make my own decision about Pete."

Collins said she would meet with Hegseth regardless of Coleman. "How else am I going to get a sense of him and ask him the very thick notebook of questions that I have?"

Hegseth will need all the Republican support he can get. If all Senate Democrats vote against him, just four Republicans joining them would block his confirmation. Not all Republicans have vowed to back him, even after their meetings.

"I'm not meeting with Hegseth because of Coleman, but Coleman knows how to get things done in the United States Senate, and yes, it is helping [Hegseth] very much," said longtime Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who also served with Coleman.

One of the most important relationships Coleman has is with incoming Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., which began when he, Thune and Graham were recruited by national Republicans to run for the Senate together.

"It's a close personal relationship as well as a colleague relationship," Weber said of Coleman and Thune. "That's the most important senatorial relationship, obviously, that you can have. Thune has to both reassure senators that their role is going to be respected and reassure the president that he's going to get his choices whenever it's possible."

Thune has not indicated how he will vote, but as incoming majority leader he will be tasked with ensuring Trump's nominees get confirmed.

"I think that's not coincidental that Norm has been brought in here," said longtime Minnesota Republican political consultant Gregg Peppin. "Hegseth is a Trump person, and he has given him a little bit of a boost, so Hegseth's challenge is not going to be with the Trump-type senators, with the southern senators," but with moderate senators, Peppin said.

Though he left the Senate more than a decade ago, Coleman has remained active in politics. He's the national chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition and helps fundraise for Republicans by chairing the boards of the Congressional Leadership Fund and American Action Network.

Now a lobbyist, his clients include the government of Saudi Arabia as well as some companies that conduct business with the agency Hegseth could be leading.

If Hegseth is confirmed, Coleman could earn praise from the incoming administration, which could open doors for him — if he's interested.

"I think he's very happy with what he's doing and has his fingers in lots of different things. I can't imagine he'd want to go into the administration," said political consultant Jeff Larson, a longtime friend of Coleman.

Coleman was elected mayor of St. Paul as a Democrat before he switched parties in 1996. Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum, whose district includes St. Paul, got to know Coleman when she was a state legislator. She recalls Coleman was a "great negotiator," a skill she especially saw when they worked to fund the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

"He does have many of those qualities that you would want in someone trying to help get someone over the finish line, and obviously, Mr. Hegseth needs a lot of help," McCollum said.

But she hasn't forgotten that Coleman swore in 2016 he'd never vote for Trump.

"Nothing's changed. Trump has not changed who he is," McCollum continued. "Now, Norm wants to be helpful to an administration that he didn't think was qualified to be leading our country, now he's involved in it."