Kelly Craft
Kelly CraftReuters

Kelly Craft's nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nations has been formally submitted to the Senate, the White House announced Thursday, according to CNN.

President Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Craft, who currently serves as US ambassador to Canada, to the post in late February after former Ambassador Nikki Haley resigned last year.

Trump initially picked Heather Nauert to replace Haley, but Nauert later withdrew her candidacy.

Craft’s nomination now goes to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. She will begin meeting with senators in coming days and make her case in a hearing at a date to be determined.

The Kentucky native and her husband, billionaire coal mining executive Joe Craft, have been heavyweight Republican funders. In the 2016 presidential race, they backed Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida to be the Republican nominee for president before switching their allegiance to Trump.

The next year, Trump nominated Craft to be ambassador to Canada, a position she officially assumed in October 2017.