The Senate on Tuesday confirmed a quartet of former senators and widows of former senators to key ambassadorial posts, in a rare move by the chamber to approve some of President Biden’s diplomatic nominees.

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       The Senate unanimously confirmed former senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) as U.S. ambassador to Turkey; former senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.) as ambassador to New Zealand; Victoria Reggie Kennedy as ambassador to Austria; and Cindy McCain as ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, which encompasses three U.N. agencies.

       Kennedy is the widow of the late senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). McCain is the widow of the late senator John McCain (R-Ariz.).

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       Tuesday’s votes came as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has threatened to delay the confirmations of dozens of State Department nominees and other national security picks in an ongoing battle with the White House over its foreign policy agenda.

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       Before Tuesday, just one of Biden’s choices to be a U.S. ambassador in a foreign capital — former interior secretary and Democratic senator Ken Salazar, confirmed in August as ambassador to Mexico — had been approved by the Senate.

       That means Biden is lagging considerably behind his immediate predecessor, Donald Trump, who at this point in his presidency had 20 U.S. ambassadors confirmed.

       The four nominees who were confirmed Tuesday were among a group of nearly three-dozen approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this month. It remains unclear when the other nominees may see a Senate floor vote.

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       According to Bloomberg News, Flake was spotted making the rounds in the Republican cloakroom off the Senate floor Monday night. The former senator from Arizona, who left the Senate in 2019, was a vocal critic of Trump. He endorsed Biden in the 2020 presidential race.

       Cindy McCain, too, backed Biden in 2020 and has been critical of Trump, who frequently attacked her late husband on Twitter and in campaign speeches.

       Biden went on to become the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996. The state also now has two Democratic senators, Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly.

       Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.