It appears that the new Democrat Senate will be filling these positions.
From Grok:
Roughly 360 unfilled positions among the ~800–823 key Senate-confirmed roles tracked by the Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post (as of late October 2026), with higher totals possible across the full set of ~1,300+ PAS positions.X
Key details from the most recent detailed reporting (Washington Post, Oct. 26, 2026, citing Partnership for Public Service analysis of their joint tracker):
- Of 823 tracked positions, 249 had no nominee at all.
- Another ~110 nominees were awaiting Senate confirmation.
- Combined, this leaves hundreds of leadership posts without a confirmed permanent appointee—the highest level of such vacancies since the Reagan administration.Dnyuz
The tracker focuses on roughly 800 of the more than 1,300 positions that require presidential nomination and Senate confirmation (Cabinet secretaries, deputies/assistants, ambassadors, CFOs, general counsels, etc.). Many “vacant” roles are temporarily filled by acting officials under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, but prolonged vacancies create legal and operational limits on those officials’ authority.Ourpublicservice
Context on the broader picture:
- Total PAS (Presidential Appointment with Senate confirmation) positions are estimated in the 1,200–1,400 range historically.
- Separate trackers show civilian nominations in the current Congress: hundreds confirmed, with ~150 still pending at various stages (committee, calendar, etc.), plus large volumes of military promotions.
- Nomination pace slowed in 2026 after a faster first year of the administration, contributing to the backlog amid high turnover.
Numbers fluctuate daily with new nominations, confirmations, withdrawals, and resignations. The Partnership for Public Service / Washington Post Political Appointee Tracker is the standard public source for ongoing monitoring of the key positions. Exact real-time totals for every one of the 1,300+ slots are not published as a single official figure.

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