(JNS) The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, March 29 advanced the nomination of Deborah Lipstadt to serve as the U.S. State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

Lipstadt, 75, a top Holocaust historian and the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish and Holocaust studies at Emory University, was approved by a 13-9 vote, with Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) joining the Democrats to vote in favor of her nomination.

Lipstadt was nominated by U.S. President Joe Biden on July 30 and since then her nomination has been in the committee before she received a hearing in February after Republicans on the committee requested more time to vet her. A vote in the committee was also delayed twice, once after due to the objection of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and another due to low attendance.

A chief concern for Republicans was what they considered Lipstadt’s history of partisan tweets, in which she criticized Republican lawmakers.

The vote moves her nomination towards a full Senate vote to confirm her.