Democrats will make confirming President Joe Biden's judicial nominations a top priority after narrowly gaining control of the Senate in November.

Amid a gridlocked Senate, Biden struggled to have some judges confirmed while pledging to bring more diversity to the court. The Senate Judiciary Committee had been evenly divided, stalling the confirmation of several progressive civil rights judges that Biden had nominated.

There is optimism for Democrats, as Sen. Raphael Warnock's win in the Georgia runoff election gave the party a majority in the Senate, making the process to nominate judges easier.

Arizona Sen. Krysten Sinema announced her departure from the Democratic party last month, making it unknown whether or not she will caucus with Democrats. If she does, the party will hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate. If not, Democrats will have 50 seats while Republicans have 49.

As the House falls under Republican leadership, Democrats are looking at ways to champion the party through the new 118th Congress.

One way is to focus on judicial confirmations.

There have been 97 federal judges appointed during Biden's term. In comparison, Donald Trump had confirmed 85 judges at this point of his term. There were 234 judges appointed during Trump's term.

When the Senate convenes, there will 28 judicial nominations awaiting confirmation -- eight for the courts of appeals and 20 for the district courts. There are also nine vacancies on the U.S. Courts of Appeals, as well as 70 vacancies for district courts, and two vacancies on the Court of International Trade.

Out of Biden's appointees, over 75% are women, and two-thirds are people of color. Additionally, a record 29 of those judges had backgrounds as public defenders. Twelve civil rights attorneys were also appointed.

Biden successfully nominated Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson last February as the first Black woman to serve on the court.

Biden and Democrats are also focusing on modifying the "blue slip" process which requires any district judge nominees to receive a "blue slip" from the home-state senators. The process has been advantageous for Republicans, who have used it to stall progressive judge appointments.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., is expected to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee again this session. Durbin has said he will keep the blue slip requirement while adding exceptions if the candidate is being discriminated against for their race, gender, or sexual orientation.

Biden released a list on Tuesday outlining his key judicial nominees for ambassadorships, agency leads, and national security positions.

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