With President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican Senate majority poised to take control in January, President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats are rushing to lock in any partisan advantages they enjoy with last-minute votes on various bureaucratic and judicial nominees.

One such effort to confirm the renomination of National Labor Relations Board Chair Lauren McFerran to another five-year term failed on Wednesday by just one vote, 49-50, Reuters reported.

The Senate's rejection of the staunchly pro-union NLRB chair's renomination was a serious blow to not just President Joe Biden but also Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and set the stage for Trump and Senate Republicans to place the NLRB under pro-business GOP control next year.

Biden renominated Democratic NLRB chair to another term

In May, President Biden announced that he had renominated NLRB Chair McFerran to serve another five-year term in that position.

She was first appointed to the board in 2014 by then-President Barack Obama and was designated as the board's chair in 2021 by Biden, but her term is set to expire on Monday.

At the same time, Biden also nominated employment and labor attorney Joshua Ditelberg to fill a Republican vacancy on the bipartisan five-member NLRB, which is currently dominated by Democrats with a 3-1 split, but that will be reduced to 2-1 after McFerran's departure.

Senate vote on McFerran falls short

According to The Hill, Sen. Schumer pushed for a vote on Wednesday on President Biden's two NLRB nominees, with the goal of locking in a 3-2 Democratic majority for the board for the next couple of years, but that was not to be.

In a somewhat surprising move, two outgoing former Democrats-turned-independents, Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), sided with Republicans to vote against McFerran's renomination, after which Democrats scuttled the plan to also hold a vote on Ditelberg's nomination.

For his plan to succeed, Schumer would have needed either multiple GOP absences or defections or at least one of Manchin or Sinema to vote alongside their Democratic colleagues to set up a tie-breaker vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, but that did not occur as had been hoped.

After the failed vote for McFerran, Schumer said, "It is deeply disappointing, a direct attack on working people, and incredibly troubling that this highly qualified nominee -- with a proven track record of protecting worker rights -- did not have the votes."

Trump and Senate GOP have opportunity to realign NLRB makeup

Employment Law Worldview reported that the failed vote for McFerran to serve another five-year term as the NLRB chair signals the strong likelihood of substantial changes for the board beginning next year, as the ball is in President-elect Trump and Senate Republicans' court to reshape the partisan makeup of the panel earlier than expected.

One of the first moves expected from Trump is the firing and replacing of decidedly pro-union NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who has essentially served as the board's chief prosecutor and filed lawsuits against targeted businesses.

Given the staggered terms of NLRB members, had McFerran and Ditelberg been confirmed the board would have been locked in at 3-2 in favor of Democrats until the next vacancy occurred in 2026, but now Trump will have two vacancies to immediately fill upon taking office in January.

It is unclear who Trump will nominate -- it is possible that Ditelberg could be renominated -- or designate as the NLRB chair, but it seems likely that whoever he picks will be easily confirmed by the incoming Senate Republican majority, and it is an even safer bet that the realigned NLRB will work to reverse Biden's pro-union policies and instead act more favorably toward employers instead of workers.