Updated 6:08 p.m. | Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that longtime aide Julie Adams would become secretary of the Senate when he becomes majority leader next year.  

“I’m confident that she will continue serving this institution and our colleagues with the skill and professionalism she’s demonstrated throughout her career in both the Senate and White House,” said McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who will become majority leader in 2015.  

Adams, who has been McConnell’s director of administration, will succeed Nancy Erickson, who has held the post since 2007 . Adams will formally be nominated for the position at the start of the new Congress.  If elected, Adams would be the seventh woman to serve as the Secretary of the Senate.  

The Secretary of the Senate position dates back the earliest days of the body in 1789, and the job has a variety of both administrative and legislative functions , overseeing personnel ranging from clerks and parliamentarians to librarians and printers, and administers payroll for Senate employees.  

Mary Suit Jones will move from the role of Republican staff director of the Rules and Administration Committee back to assistant secretary of the Senate, a post she held in the previous Republican majority.  

Adams has worked for the Kentucky Republican since 2003. She took a brief hiatus from Capitol Hill from 2007 to 2009 to serve as press secretary for First Lady Laura Bush.  

Erickson, the current secretary, worked as the Democratic Representative for the Senate Sergeant at Arms and served in the office of Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., before being elected in 2007.  

“I am honored and humbled to be appointed Secretary of the Senate and look forward to continuing the important work that this office – and its talented and committed staff – performs,” Adams said. “In the interim, Nancy Erickson and I will be working closely together to ensure a smooth transition in the new Congress.”  

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