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Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch says she will carry on her predecessor Eric Holder's commitment to civil rights issues.

President Barack Obamas nominee to head the Justice Department appeared poised for Senate confirmation after two days of hearings in which Loretta Lynch earned the confidence of top Republicans on the Judiciary Committee sometimes by distancing herself from outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder.

But, to the relief of civil rights advocates, Lynch also pointed to areas of Holder's legacy particularly involving race that she plans to continue.

There's no doubt that voting rights and criminal justice reform have to be at the forefront of the Department of Justices agenda, says Leslie Proll, director of the Washington, D.C., office of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Holder made civil rights a priority during his nearly six-year tenure, the third longest of any attorney general. His office vehemently challenged, with some success, state laws that restricted the right to vote, particularly for minorities and lower income people. Even before the deaths last year of Eric Garner and Michael Brown focused the country on police treatment of minorities, Holder's Justice Department opened investigations into misuse of force and racial profiling by officers and agencies.

The first African-American attorney general, Holder was also a polarizing figure among Republicans and even some Democrats. He prompted controversy early in his term when he said the United States was essentially a nation of cowards with regard to race. A longtime Holder friend said one of his tacitly approved roles in the administration was to act as "race man.

[ALSO: Loretta Lynch Confirmation Serves as Immigration Proxy War]

Hes gone farther and deeper into some issues of race than the White House would like, but I know he has the presidents well-wishes," Charles Ogletree, a Harvard Law School professor who once taught Obama, told Politico last year.

Those who know Lynch have suggested she has displayed a more pragmatic approach to the law in her career as a federal prosecutor. If approved by Congress, she will be the first U.S. attorney to become attorney general since the early 19th century. In a November profile in the New York Times, Lynchs associates described her as someone who prioritizes substance over style.

And that attitude was evident in her testimony Wednesday during which she deftly maneuvered Republican grilling over Obamas executive orders on immigration. Lynch also stressed her desire to embark on a "new and improved" relationship with Congress, if confirmed.

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Loretta Lynch Embraces Eric Holder's Legacy on Civil ...