OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The race to be leader of the Senate Republicans is heating up.
Republican Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and John Cornyn of Texas have just one week to win the top spot now that the GOP has control of the upper house.
Several senators and staffers say that Thune, Cornyn, and their friends have been calling members nonstop to get support before next week’s election to replace Mitch McConnell (Ky.), who is leaving his job as Senate GOP Leader, The Hill reported.
The Senate GOP whip, Thune, has been seen as a small favorite to replace the Kentucky Republican. He is the best at counting votes for the GOP and has also done a great job of raising money and running campaigns.
But not many people are writing Cornyn off. He was the whip before and was a close friend of the outgoing leader. He is also thought to have strong ties with more conservative members of the conference.
“It’s Thune’s to lose, but Cornyn’s going to make it close,” one GOP aide familiar with leadership dynamics told The Hill. “It’s going to be bloody and rough, and money is going to matter.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) is also running again, but he probably won’t make it past the first round of voting on Wednesday, which will be kept hidden. Members of the 119th Congress who will be in office when it starts next year will be the only ones who can vote.
A person familiar with Thune’s work says that he was always on the road in October supporting Senate GOP candidates. During the last month, he sat in for all of the candidates in close races except Kari Lake in Arizona.
The source also said that he earned more than $33 million for himself, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), and the party’s other candidates.
Cornyn also had good numbers. As of late September, he had raised $26 million, including almost $12 million for the NRSC, while campaigning and raising money in key swing states like Nevada, Michigan, and Indiana.
It was also said by his staff that he has earned a total of $406 million since becoming a senator in 2002.
Deep State rag POLITICO celebrated when Senators Thune and Cornyn ran the GOP establishment REBELLION against Donald Trump in year one of his first term.
Cornyn and Thune openly MUTINIED against Trump’s America First agenda of building a wall on the southern border. pic.twitter.com/1D6ZpLyZLY
— National File (@NationalFile) November 8, 2024
But President-elect Trump, who won the White House race by a large margin, is still the most important thing going into next week. Neither Thune nor Cornyn has been a die-hard MAGA supporter, but since the beginning of the year, they have both tried to make things right with him.
Thune has had more work to do on this than Cornyn because he backed Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) campaign for president and Trump told Scott that he should face a primary fight in the Mount Rushmore State. None of them came true, and in the end, Thune easily won a fourth term.
Thune, on the other hand, seems eager to get along with the new president. The same person says they met at Mar-a-Lago in March and have talked several times since then, most recently on Wednesday.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who is leaving his job as chair of the Senate GOP campaign arm, and Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who is on Thune’s whip team, are two of his biggest backers. Both are important Trump supporters who have talked to him a lot during the 2024 cycle.
“John Thune’s worked pretty hard at … making sure that he and Trump are on the same page,” Mullin told The Hill in an interview. “He’s done a good job staying relevant to the president, calling him and checking in on him. I think it’s good.”
Cornyn, on the other hand, backed Trump earlier this cycle and has stayed in touch with the president-elect. He most recently saw Trump when he went to Texas at the end of October and Nevada at the beginning of the month.
According to Thune, who spoke to Fox News on Wednesday, he has told Trump not to get involved in the race for leadership, but that he can do so if he wants to.
“The president obviously has tremendous influence, and if he chooses to use it, I think, in in the leadership elections, particularly in the Senate … it is a very sort of inside baseball thin,” Thune said. “And the president, if he chooses to, it’s his prerogative to weigh in on that. Frankly, I think if he lets it play out, we’ll get the right person.”
“The way it’s playing out, it’s 100 percent Thune’s at this point. It’s just a formality. I don’t see how Cornyn gets there, and I don’t see how Rick Scott gets there. They’re both good guys, I just don’t see how they get there,” Mullin said. “This leadership election has been going on a long time. … Now, it’s a closing argument and making sure your vote stays where it’s at [and] following up.”
There are also some fundamental benefits to Thune. He is almost ten years younger than Cornyn, who is 72 years old. He also doesn’t have to run again until 2028, but Cornyn does. He could face a primary fight from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who is not a fan of either of them.
“It’s a headache. It’s a distraction. It’s not great timing for Cornyn,” the GOP aide said. “You’re the brand-new leader and all the sudden you’re defending your right flank. He’s cut a lot of deals that have been helpful … but to a lot of Texas primary voters, he hasn’t.”