After losing the election, Arnold Vinick is nominated for which Cabinet post?

After losing the presidential election, Arnold Vinick is nominated to become Secretary of State. In The West Wing’s seventh season, Republican senator and presidential nominee Vinick narrowly loses the general election to Democrat Matt Santos.

Santos nevertheless recognizes Vinick’s foreign-policy expertise and asks him to join the incoming administration. Vinick initially refuses, partly because he is considering another presidential campaign, but his advisers argue that serving as Secretary of State would allow him to make a lasting contribution without another exhausting campaign.

The appointment is unusual because Vinick is a prominent Republican joining a Democratic administration, but it fits the show’s portrayal of their mutual respect. Vinick is not nominated for Labor, Defense, or Attorney General; his strategic foreign-policy knowledge is the reason Santos specifically seeks him for the State Department.