After 17 months without one, the U.S. will finally have an ambassador to Brazil

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Elizabeth Frawley Bagley to be the country’s new ambassador to Brazil. 

President Joe Biden named Ms. Bagley – a long-standing fundraiser and supporter of the Democratic Party – back in January of this year. Yet the Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations was at a deadlock on whether to confirm her for the post.

The timing of the confirmation provides Ms. Bagley a short window to arrive in Brazil before the inauguration of President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on January 1. Vice-President Kamala Harris is expected to attend the inauguration. In 2015, President Joe Biden — who served as Barack Obama’s VP — attended Dilma Rousseff’s inauguration.

“Ambassador Bagley will begin preparation for her arrival in Brazil on a date to be set by the White House,” the U.S. Embassy in Brasília said in a statement.

It was a rocky path to confirmation. Mr. Biden had picked Ms. Bagley back in January, but the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations split 11-11 in a June vote on her nomination.

Ms. Bagley began to face fierce opposition from the Republican Jewish Coalition after remarks made in a 1998 interview resurfaced. Ms. Bagley spoke about the “major money” and influence of the “Jewish lobby” in politics.

During her confirmation hearing back in May, Democrat Senator Ben Cardin...