WASHINGTON The U.S. Senate voted 97-1 to confirm Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker as U.S. commerce secretary, elevating a significant figure behind President Barack Obamas political rise to a position in his second-term cabinet.

Pritzker, 54, is a top Democratic donor who helped lead Obama to record fundraising levels as the finance chairman of his 2008 campaign.

Senate Republicans had indicated she could encounter a tough confirmation hearing focused on her offshore investments and role in the 2001 collapse of Illinois Superior Bank, a pioneer in the securitization of sub-prime mortgages.

Instead, Republicans including Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Dan Coats of Indiana said she made a strong impression in one-on-one meetings before the hearing, and most of their questions turned on her views on programs administered by the agency.

The one vote against her confirmation came from Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent.

"We need a secretary of commerce who will represent the interests of working Americans and their families, not the interest of CEOs and large corporations," he said.

Pritzker brings business experience to a department with nearly 43,000 workers. She developed a Chicago skyscraper, started a luxury senior housing company and served as chairwoman for a credit-reporting company.

She replaces John Bryson, who quit a year ago for health reasons.

The Pritzker family began Hyatt Hotels Corp., placing the new Commerce chief among the wealthiest U.S. Cabinet secretaries in history. She will rank with industrialist Andrew Mellon, who served as Treasury secretary during the 1920s.

In a disclosure form, Pritzker reported assets of $400 million to $2.2 billion, excluding the value of more than $50 million in Hyatt stock. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index puts her net worth at more than $1.5 billion.

Pritzker testified at the Senate hearing she planned to be a "bridge between the administration and the business community."