OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
The race to be leader of the Senate Republicans has finally concluded.
On the first vote, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) was ruled out of the race to replace Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) in the Senate.
In a secret vote held Wednesday morning, none of the three candidates for the next GOP leader got more than half of the votes cast. That means senators will go to a second round, where the person with the fewest votes will be eliminated by conference rules.
Sen. John Thune (R-SD) received and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) advanced with Scott eliminated.
After the second ballot of voting, Thune has been selected as the Senate Republican leader.
🚨Breaking News: John Thune has won the race to become the new Senate Majority Leader.
Thune beat out Cornyn 29-24 pic.twitter.com/AKv5tFM2V6
— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) November 13, 2024
🚨 South Dakota Senator John Thune elected Senate Majority Leader via a secret ballot vote. pic.twitter.com/URqdTKGvWv
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) November 13, 2024
Earlier this year, McConnell revealed that he’s “not leaving the Senate” and that he’s focused on combating the “isolationist movement” within the Republican Party.
During an interview with WHAS radio host Terry Meiners, McConnell vowed to use his remaining time in the Senate to hit back against GOP colleagues who aim to rein in U.S. support for foreign allies such as Israel and Ukraine.
Despite his plans to step down as party leader, McConnell said, “I’m not leaving the Senate.” He added, “I’m particularly involved in actually fighting back against the isolationist movement in my own party and so many others as well.”
McConnell mentioned Ukraine’s fight against Russia, a cause to which the US has allocated tens of billions of dollars.
“The symbol, lately, is ‘are we gonna help Ukraine or not?’ And I think it’s extremely important that we do that,” McConnell said.
Meiners noted that Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul has criticized McConnell and said he is out of touch with the people in Kentucky.
“Paul would be the first one to say that he’s an isolationist. He has been all along. This is not anything new for him. And he and I have always disagreed on this kind of issue,” McConnell said, referring to Paul.
McConnell said that he finds it “more troublesome” that others appear to be “heading in that direction, making arguments that I think are easily refuted.”
He added, “We’re not losing any of our troops, the Ukrainians are the ones doing the fighting. If the Russians take Ukraine, some NATO country would be next and then we will be right in the middle of it.”
Several GOP senators are already planning for a post-Mitch McConnell world after they have grown increasingly frustrated with how he’s done his job and are confident that the party’s next Senate leader will be better.
The senators told The Daily Caller that his walled-off, McConnell-centric style of leadership is no longer appropriate in today’s political climate, adding that most Republicans in the chamber believe they should work together.
McConnell revealed in late February his decision to relinquish his role as Senate Republican leader come November. The Kentuckian stated his intention to fulfill his term, concluding in January 2027, “albeit from a different seat in the chamber.”
This announcement followed mounting criticism over his collaboration with the pro-Ukraine faction of the GOP, attempting to secure additional aid for the country without obtaining border security concessions from Democrats.
Following McConnell’s announcement, two Republican senators, John Cornyn from Texas and John Thune from South Dakota, have declared their candidacy for the next Senate GOP Leader position. Meanwhile, Rick Scott, a Republican senator from Florida who previously challenged McConnell for the leadership role in 2020, is also reportedly considering running for the job, the Daily Caller added.
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson told the Caller that the anti-establishment wing of the party hasn’t settled on a candidate, but talks are ongoing.
“No, we’ve had discussions, but I’ll leave it at that. We were having discussions before Leader McConnell announced his intention there. I mean, I think I was surprised. I wasn’t expecting that. But, again, I appreciate the fact that he did give us that heads-up. So we have this time,” he said.
“From my standpoint, I’ll sing the praises of Rick Scott. He’s shown leadership. It was his tenacity that continued to schedule meetings with House members, week after week after week, really got us by the debt ceiling impasse. I’m not sure he gets enough credit for that,” Johnson continued. “It was Rick Scott who just week after week, even though we’re making no progress, continued to hold those meetings and had the leadership skill to track House members. And that was the final result. So he’s done that.”
