John Kerry: 94-3 vote confirms the new secretary of state

Democratic Senator John Kerry has been confirmed to take on the role of the 68th secretary of state, replacing Hillary Clinton as the nation's top diplomat. Kerry was voted almost unanimously by his fellow senators.

With 94 senators voting for Kerry, himself included, there were three holdouts in Republicans John Cornyn, Ted Cruz, and James Inhofe. According to CNN, Kerry received a unanimous vote from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, earlier in the day. Kerry has been head of the committee for the last four years.

Kerry, a longtime senator from Massachusetts, lost his bid to become president, in 2004, to incumbent George W. Bush. He was nominated by President Barack Obama in December to become secretary of state when Clinton steps down. The new position will require Kerry to relinquish his seat in the senate, which will be temporarily filled by someone chosen by the governor of Massachusetts.