Pete Hegseth was met with a friendly reception from Senate Republicans at his hearing Tuesday before the Armed Services Committee, who signaled they would get behind President-elect Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to be secretary of defense. Hegseth came into the hearing with a cloud of controversies hanging over his nomination, including allegations of excessive drinking and sexual assault, which he has denied, and past remarks that women shouldn’t serve in combat, which he has since walked back. But after he was questioned for more than four hours Tuesday, Republicans came away feeling optimistic that the former Fox News host and Army combat veteran would be confirmed to lead the Pentagon. The GOP controls 53 Senate seats and will need 50 senators to secure his confirmation. “He comported himself extremely well and made a strong argument for why he ought to be the next secretary of defense,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. Here are the key takeaways from the first confirmation hearing for Trump’s incoming Cabinet. Joni Ernst, a key Republican vote, plays nice As a combat veteran and sexual assault survivor, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has long been seen as a linchpin of Hegseth’s path to 50 votes, as she has expressed concerns about him. On Tuesday, she did little to challenge Hegseth. She began by noting their “very productive” and “very frank” conversations while submitting into the record a letter from a Hegseth supporter. She asked him a question about assuring that the Pentagon can pass an audit in the future. She asked if women should have “the opportunity to serve in combat roles,” to which Hegseth replied in the affirmative, “exactly the way you caveated it.” She asked if he’ll appoint a senior official dedicated to sexual assault prevention, to which he noted he had already promised that to her: “As we have discussed, yes I will,” he said. Ernst, who faces re-election in 2026, has come under heavy pressure from Trump allies to get behind Hegseth after her initial skepticisms of his nomination came to light. Lately, she hasn’t shown much of an appetite lately to buck the president-elect. Tim Kaine grills Hegseth on character Perhaps the most aggressive line of questioning came from Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who raised Hegseth’s personal indiscretions to question his character and his commitment to his word. “Can you so casually cheat on a second wife and cheat on the mother of a child who had been born two months before, and you tell us you were completely cleared?” Kaine asked him. “You cheated on the mother of that child less than two months after that daughter was born, didn’t you?” Hegseth downplayed a settlement and payment to the woman who accused him of sexual assault, saying it was a result of a “nuisance lawsuit.” He didn’t deny the infidelity. “You’ve taken an oath, like you would take an oath to be secretary of defense and all of your weddings to be faithful to your wife,” Kaine told him. “I have failed in things in my life, and thankfully, I’m redeemed by my lord and savior, Jesus,” Hegseth replied. Republicans jump to Hegseth’s defense Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., took the mic after Kaine and jumped to Hegseth’s defense. “I’m sorry for what has been happening to you,” an indignant Cramer told him. He wasn’t the only one. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., also went after Kaine and other Hegseth critics on the panel. “The senator from Virginia starts bringing up the fact that, what if you showed up drunk to your job? How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night? Have any of you guys asked them to step down and resign for their job?” he said. “How many senators do you know have got a divorce before cheating on their wives? Did you ask them to step down?” “We’ve all made mistakes. I’ve made mistakes,” Mullin said. “Jennifer, thank you for loving him through that mistake,” he said, referring to Hegseth’s wife, “because the only reason why I’m here and not in prison is because my wife loved me, too.” The comments underscored how some Republicans have rallied around Hegseth after a bumpy start to the confirmation process. Culture war rhetoric dominates Throughout the hearing, Hegseth repeatedly lavished praise on Trump and criticized President Joe Biden’s administration, channeling the language of the MAGA movement. He inveighed against “left-wing woke universities” and attacked the “left-wing media in America,” calling himself the victim of a “smear campaign.” “And what we knew is that it wasn’t about me, most of it was about President Donald Trump, who’s had to endure the very same thing for much longer amounts of time,” Hegseth said. “And he endured it in incredibly strong ways.” When Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., pressed Hegseth on whether “there are some orders that can be given by the commander in chief that would violate the U.S. Constitution,” he deflected and repeatedly rejected the premise that Trump might do that. “I understand. You’ve done your genuflecting to him,” Slotkin said. Democrats press Hegseth on women in combat Multiple Democrats took aim at Hegseth’s past remarks that women shouldn’t serve in combat roles. “It’s a silly thing to say,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said, calling it “beneath the position that you are aspiring to.” “We have hundreds, hundreds of women who are currently in the infantry, lethal members of our military serving in the infantry,” she said. “But you degrade them. You say we need moms, but not in the military, especially in combat units.” Hegseth has since softened his opposition to women serving in the military. He said his views, “recently and in the past, and from personal experience, have been” based on “instances where I’ve seen standards lowered.” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., who lost her legs serving in combat after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, also took exception to Hegseth’s past stances. “You can’t seem to grasp that there is no U.S. military as we know it without the incredible women that we serve, women who earn their place in their units,” Duckworth said. “You have not earned your place as secretary of defense.” NBC News’ Alex Tabet, Alec Hernández and Victoria Ebner contributed. This story first appeared on NBCNews.com. More from NBC News: Top three insurers reaped $7.3 billion through their drug middlemen’s markups, FTC says Biden administration will remove Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism Minnesota state House Democrats walk out in effort to block GOP speaker vote