Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Defense Department, survived his confirmation hearing Tuesday without drawing any Republican opposition or new lines of attack from Democrats.

Mr. Hegseth faced a barrage of tough questions from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee but defended himself against “anonymous attacks” and redirected criticisms to speak to his goals for improving the Defense Department.

“I’m a change agent and a threat to them,” Mr. Hegseth said of anonymous sources. He accused them of driving a media “smear campaign.”

Democrats questioned Mr. Hegseth about the reported allegations, including that he financially mismanaged two veterans organizations and drank excessively at work-related functions. He dismissed the claims and didn’t allow those storylines to dominate the hearing.

Democrats and some Republicans repeatedly mentioned Mr. Hegseth’s past comments about women serving in combat.

Protesters were removed after interrupting Mr. Hegseth’s opening statement. One of them shouted, “You are a misogynist.”

Several Democrats pointed to a damning remark from a podcast in which Mr. Hegseth said, “I’m straight up saying we should not have women in combat roles.”

“What do you have to say to the almost 400,000 women who are serving today about your position on whether they should be capable to rise through the highest ranks of our military?” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire Democrat.

Mr. Hegseth said he would be honored to serve alongside those women and that they would be “treated fairly, with dignity, honor and respect.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, said Mr. Hegseth’s prior statements, such as “We need moms, but not in the military,” do not show respect for service members willing to die for their country.

“They’re brutal, and they’re mean,” she said.

To each repeated question on the topic, Mr. Hegseth said his past comments about women in combat roles were not meant to disparage their service or capabilities but to speak to eroding standards that can impact readiness on the battlefield.

“I spent months talking to active-duty service members, men and women, low ranks, high ranks, combat arms and not combat arms,” he said. “And what each and every one of them told me, and which personal instances have shown me, is that in ways, direct, indirect, overt and subtle, standards have been changed inside infantry training units, ranger school, infantry battalions.”

Sen. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, helped Mr. Hegseth with his defense by pointing out that ground combat roles “like infantrymen or artillerymen or Special Forces” were not open to women until a decade ago under Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. He asked Mr. Hegseth whether President-elect Donald Trump indicated any plans to rescind or alter that guidance.

“He has not indicated to me that he has plans to change whether or not women would have access to these roles,” Mr. Hegseth said. “However, I would point out ensuring that standards are equal and high is of importance to him and great importance to me.”

He said one of his first actions as defense secretary would be to order a review of combat role standards to ensure “readiness and meritocracy is front and center.”

When Mr. Hegseth suggested “criteria have been changed in order to meet quotas, racial quotas or gender quotas,” Ms. Gillibrand objected.

“Commanders do not have to have a quota for women in the infantry. That does not exist,” she said, noting the requirements for ground combat roles have not been reduced and “are very difficult to meet.”

One Republican who questioned Mr. Hegseth about women serving in combat was Sen. Joni Ernst. of Iowa, a former service member who said she was “denied the opportunity to serve in any combat role because I have a lot of gray hair.”

Although she said the policy has changed, Ms. Ernst sought to ensure that women are not denied opportunities to serve in combat if they meet the appropriately high fitness and performance standards set for such roles.

“Yes, exactly the way that you caveated it,” Mr. Hegseth said. “Yes, women will have access to ground combat roles, given the standards remain high.”

Ms. Ernst, considered a barometer of Republican support for confirming Mr. Hegseth, did not say whether she planned to vote for him but seemed pleased with his responses to her questions.

She secured commitments from Mr. Hegseth that he would lead the Pentagon to pass its first audit and that he would appoint a senior official dedicated to military sexual assault prevention and response.

Mr. Hegseth denied personally ever making unwanted requests for sexual favors or sexually harassing women.

A police report filed in 2017 accused him of sexually assaulting a woman, but prosecutors never brought charges. Mr. Hegseth has said the sexual encounter was consensual, but he paid to settle a lawsuit with the woman to avoid hits to his reputation. His narrative on the incident did not change during the hearing.

“It was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” Mr. Hegseth said.

Mr. Hegseth was the first of Mr. Trump’s nominees to testify before a Senate committee. From the Republicans’ perspective, he passed.

“The readout from the hearing this morning is that he acquitted himself extremely well and made a strong argument for why he ought to be the next secretary of defense,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters. “If he’s reported out of the committee, we will work quickly to get him across the floor, obviously, because that is a key, critical, important national security position that needs to be filled.”

Defense secretary nominees typically draw bipartisan support, but Mr. Hegseth’s nomination could face united Democratic opposition when it reaches the Senate floor.

Not a single Democrat on the Armed Services Committee offered signs of support, and several outright stated their opposition to Mr. Hegseth.

“You lack the character of composure and confidence to hold the position of secretary of defense,” said Armed Services Committee ranking member Jack Reed, Rhode Island Democrat.

Mr. Reed said a department with 3.5 million service members and civilian employees and an annual budget of nearly $900 billion “demands a leader of unparalleled experience, wisdom and, above all else, character” that he finds lacking in Mr. Hegseth.

In addition to the reports of alcohol abuse and sexual assault, he cited Mr. Hegseth’s past comments and writings that he said reflect “racist and sexist remarks about men and women in uniform” and the nominee’s support for pardoning convicted service members who were “disregarding the laws of war.”

Mr. Hegseth, an Army combat veteran and former Fox News host, acknowledged that his biography differs from those of defense secretaries of the past 30 years but said he views that as an advantage that will bring a fresh perspective needed to shake up the bureaucracy of the Defense Department.

“We’ve repeatedly placed people atop the Pentagon with supposedly ‘the right credentials’ — whether they are retired generals, academics or defense contractor executives, and where has it gotten us?” he said.

Several Democrats questioned Mr. Hegseth about his management experience. He acknowledged that the largest organization he ever managed is Concerned Veterans for America, a nonprofit with more than 100 full-time staff, but he defended himself against reports that he financially misled that and another veterans organization, Vets for Freedom.

An independent forensic accountant review of Vets for Freedom reportedly discovered evidence of gross financial mismanagement but was not made available to any government agency to review as part of Mr. Hegseth’s vetting, Mr. Reed said.

Even without the allegations of financial mismanagement, Democrats said Mr. Hegseth’s management of the veterans organizations is not enough experience to qualify him to lead the Pentagon or any other large organization.

“I don’t think there’s a board of directors in America that would hire you as a CEO with the kind of experience on your resume,” said Sen. Gary C. Peters, Michigan Democrat.

Mr. Hegseth responded with a reference to having Mr. Trump’s confidence.

“I’m grateful to be hired by one of the most successful CEOs in American history, should I be confirmed,” he said.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger F. Wicker, Mississippi Republican, said after the exchange that Mr. Hegseth has “supervised far more people than the average United States senator.”

The next questioner, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Oklahoma Republican, continued the comparison. He said senators interrogating Mr. Hegseth on accusations of personal misconduct, such as excessive drinking and infidelity, should look in the mirror.

“How many senators have showed up drunk to vote at night?” Mr. Mullin said. “How many senators have gotten a divorce because they’ve cheated on their wives?”

Republican senators championed Mr. Hegseth throughout the hearing. They said the defense nominee is unconventional and willing to shake up the status quo. They asked him friendly questions to highlight his plans to eliminate woke initiatives in the military and increase recruitment, among others.

Mr. Wicker alluded to Mr. Hegseth’s experience as a Fox News host as an asset.

“We must not underestimate the importance of having a top-shelf communicator as secretary of defense,” he said, noting that no official besides the president plays a more significant role in telling the public about threats to the national defense. “I have no doubt Mr. Hegseth will excel in a skill in which many of his predecessors have fallen short.”

• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report. 

• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.