WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to vote next week on Darin Smith’s nomination to become the top federal prosecutor in Wyoming, after a narrow procedural vote Monday cleared the way for debate on his confirmation. The 46-45 party-line vote put Smith in a package with 48 other presidential nominees for federal posts.

Republican senators from Wyoming say they will back him. Sen. John Barrasso’s office said he supports Smith’s nomination, and Sen. Cynthia Lummis plans to vote in favor as well. Joe Jackson said Lummis has been fully supportive of Smith’s nomination and looks forward to voting to confirm him as Wyoming’s U.S. attorney, while Laura Mengelkamp said Barrasso supports the pick and considers him well-qualified to serve as the state’s chief federal law enforcement officer.

The confirmation fight has only sharpened as Democrats pressed Smith over his conduct and allies defended him. On Monday, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin criticized Smith for being present on the U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, saying Smith contended that rioters were entrapped and that U.S. Capitol police were guilty of massive incompetence. Durbin called that an embarrassing statement and a slap in the face.

Smith, President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney for Wyoming, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he is totally qualified to be the U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming. The post would make him Wyoming’s chief federal law enforcement officer, giving him authority over major federal criminal and civil cases in the state if he is confirmed.

The nomination has also drawn fresh scrutiny from defense attorneys in at least eight federal cases, who say Smith polluted grand jury proceedings in March by maligning defendants and calling them murderers while speaking to grand jurors. Those accusations have become part of the confirmation process, adding a separate line of criticism to a race already marked by partisan combat.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Wyoming said Smith’s comments were ill-advised but said they did not rise to the level defense lawyers alleged and did not prejudice the cases involved. That defense, and Smith’s own insistence that he is qualified, leaves the Senate facing a familiar test next week: whether to confirm a nominee under fire or let the misconduct allegations and Jan. 6 criticism outweigh the backing of Wyoming’s two Republican senators.