Republican Leader John Thune will head his caucus again despite his party’s loss of the Senate, but some of his disgruntled colleagues let him know their dissatisfaction before the vote on Tuesday.
Thune and his Senate colleague Rick Scott of Florida clashed as Scott demanded that Republicans stay in town to pass legislation and confirm Trump’s remaining nominees before the end of the year, while Thune had yet to agree to keep the Senate in session.
Scott’s fellow Floridian Ashley Moody also expressed frustration with Thune in a Tuesday speech on the Senate floor, claiming that now is the time to act while Republicans hold a majority.
‘We can work the rest of this week, and we can work for the next two months to deliver on nominations, to deliver on accountability for this government, root out fraud,’ Moody stated on the floor.
Speaking on the floor of the US Senate on Monday evening, Thune pledged to ‘oppose any attempt to balloon the size of government or tear down American institutions’ that the new Democratic majorities may attempt.
Thune will once again hold the top job in Capitol Hill’s upper chamber as no other contenders appeared to challenge him for the role. The rest of his leadership team was also reelected, and Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno will lead the Senate Republican campaign arm at the NRSC.
Several of Thune’s Senate colleagues moved to delay leadership elections to give themselves time to reassess where they went wrong during the first two years of President Donald Trump‘s second term.
Pennsylvania Republican Dave McCormick was one of the senators who led the charge, noting in a letter that his colleagues ‘should move to delay leadership elections until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward.’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune at the Capitol in Washington, DC on Monday
Pennsylvania Republican Dave McCormick was one senator who led the charge to delay leadership elections in the US Senate
Republicans are poised to hold between 44 and 46 seats in the Senate next year, as races in Alaska and Mississippi still remain uncalled.
Trump called Thune a ‘very fine man’ at a Monday press conference while noting that the ultimate decision to keep him as leader ‘is up to the Senate.’
Other senators, however, did join McCormick in urging a delay of elections.
Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson, who leads the Senate Budget Committee, led a letter urging his colleagues to ‘have serious discussions within our conference as to what we can do to improve the outcome in 2028.’
‘Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice,’ Johnson added in the letter, noting ‘It is certainly not the way leadership elections should be conducted in the world’s greatest deliberative body.’
Johnson’s letter was also signed by Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, Ted Budd of North Carolina and John Kennedy of Louisiana.
Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson also led a push with four other colleagues for the caucus to reassess their priorities
Indiana Republican Jim Banks also pushed for the leadership elections to be delayed, noting in his own letter that the ‘conference needs to sit down and have a frank discussion about where we fell short, what we stand for, and what we’re going to do for the working families who sent us here.’
Last week’s midterms were an electoral bloodbath for the GOP, as Democrats pulled off a shocking seven-seat sweep despite working with a map that was thought to favor Republicans.
Democrats flipped Republican-held seats in Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Maine and Texas, as well as both North and South Carolina.
