USA · 23 July, 2026 · 2 min read
Partnership for Public Service Says Trump’s Second Term Has 27 Senate-Confirmed Departures
27 Senate-confirmed officials left Cabinet-level posts in Trump's second term's first 18 months. 11.4% of Senate-confirmed officials left, a record high.
Method and scope: whether “record turnover” counts only Senate-confirmed Cabinet exits.
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Partnership for Public Service
“Turnover on this scale does not just thin the government’s leadership ranks — it concentrates power in the president,”Read the original ↗
The Black Chronicle
“raising questions about who is running key federal agencies.”Read the original ↗
Most outlets emphasise Senate-confirmed departures; Partnership makes the power-shift warning starker.
Record departures in 18 months
A new bipartisan analysis by the Partnership for Public Service says 27 Senate-confirmed officials have left Cabinet-level departments during the first 18 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, a pace the report says is nearly two and a half times the number who departed during the same period of his first administration.P
“Twenty-seven Senate-confirmed officials within the Cabinet departments have already departed”
The analysis also found that many of those officials waited an average of nearly five months to be confirmed and then remained in office for about eight months before leaving.
The departures have included three Cabinet secretaries and the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration and IRS, according to the Partnership for Public Service.P
The Partnership for Public Service review also says Trump has submitted 578 nominations for Senate-confirmed positions, 91 fewer than the modern presidential average dating back to President Ronald Reagan.P
White House pushes back
In response to the analysis, White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said, "The president and his entire administration will continue to tirelessly implement the Trump agenda and achieve tremendous results for the American people."
The Partnership for Public Service’s Chris Piper warned that the scale of departures could hurt congressional input, writing, "Each seat left to an acting official is one the president can fill on his own terms without the Senate’s advice and consent."
CNN’s review of the Partnership for Public Service analysis reported that the departures impacted 13 departments and included three Cabinet secretaries: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.P
CNN also said the review found the administration is slow to fill vacancies, with Trump sending fewer nominations to the Senate than even his first term.
Acting officials and vacancies
The Partnership for Public Service analysis says the departures are not being replaced, with Trump making fewer nominations to Senate-confirmed posts than any president since Ronald Reagan.P
“At least 27 officials in Senate-confirmed Cabinet department positions had left their jobs by July 20, 2026”
The Partnership for Public Service review argues that turnover on this scale concentrates power in the president because more leadership is filled by officials installed without the Senate’s advice and consent.P
The Independent reported that at least 27 officials in Senate-confirmed Cabinet department positions had left their jobs by July 20, 2026, and said the data did not include departures of Senate-confirmed officials nominated under a different administration.
NBC News reported that the data analyzed by the Partnership for Public Service did not include departures of Senate-confirmed Cabinet department officials who were nominated under different administrations, nor did it include U.S. attorneys, U.S. marshals or ambassadors.P