US President Donald Trump’s pick for Fed Chair, Kevin Warsh, has won his Senate confirmation to join the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. The US Senate on Tuesday voted 51-45 to approve Kevin Warsh as a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, the first step in a two-step process that would make him the next chair of the central bank.

Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term is set to end on Friday; however, he may elect to stay on as a Governor. Powell has opted to remain on the Fed board for an indeterminate period, breaking with the usual precedent for departing chairs. His term as governor is not up until January 2028. Warsh was pushed to the front of the line for the new Fed Chair after receiving a cosign from Trump to open the year. The US President has been at odds with Powell for months, suggesting he would fire Powell from his post if he could.

Kevin Warsh will take the seat of Fed governor Stephen Miran, who was appointed to serve out the remaining term of former governor Adriana Kugler. She departed the central bank last August, five months before her term ended, amid an ethics probe. That seat is the only one scheduled to become vacant during the rest of President Trump’s term in office.

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Furthermore, Warsh’s confirmation to the Fed and his expected elevation to the chairman’s role come after a months-long battle between Trump and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee, who held up Warsh’s nomination in response to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of Powell. Tillis said he would not release his hold on Trump’s Fed nominees until federal prosecutors ended their investigation of Powell over testimony he delivered to the Senate about the costly renovation of the Fed’s headquarters in Washington.