Senate Republicans Re-Elect John Thune as Their Leader After the Midterm Losses
A week after losing their majority, Senate Republicans kept John Thune of South Dakota on top — re-electing him behind closed doors on Tuesday after a push to delay the vote failed 15 to 31. He will lead a minority of no more than 46 senators in January.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans re-elected Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as their leader on Tuesday, a week after the midterm elections cost the party its majority, USA TODAY reported. The decision was made behind closed doors without an official tally, after days of argument among Republicans about whether the party needed a new direction as it looks toward a post-Trump era.
The fight that did produce a number was over timing. A group of conservatives pushed to postpone the leadership contest until Thune laid out a plan for the lame-duck session; a private vote on postponement failed on a 15-to-31 margin, according to a senior GOP aide, and Thune's swift re-election followed. 'We have 55 days until the Democrats take over,' Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, one of the senators who tried to put off the vote, told USA TODAY. 'I want to know what we're going to do between now and then to get stuff done, because we're not going to be in power for at least two years.' In a statement, Thune said he 'appreciated the opportunity to have an open, honest and transparent conversation with my colleagues today' and was 'honored to have their continued trust.'
The New York Post reported the meeting ran for hours and was contentious, and put the scale of the defeat plainly: Democrats flipped Republican-held seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, with the Alaska and Mississippi races still uncalled, leaving Thune to lead a minority of no more than 46 senators when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. The rest of the Senate Republican team was also re-elected, The Center Square reported: John Barrasso of Wyoming will move from majority whip to minority whip, Tom Cotton of Arkansas stays as conference chair and James Lankford of Oklahoma as vice chair.
The Senate result completes the leadership picture this station has followed all day. Hours earlier, House Republicans chose Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio as their minority leader, 106 to 73 over Steve Scalise — the firebrand pick — while the Senate kept the incumbent who steered President Donald Trump's second-term agenda, including the budget law known as the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' Act, through the chamber. Democrats will hold at least 54 Senate seats in January, and their own leadership elections are expected in early December.
