And the winner is: New Senate majority leader finally chosen in ‘secret’ vote

BREAKING Senator John Thune from South Dakota has been elected the new Senate Majority Leader.

— WorldNetDaily (@worldnetdaily) November 13, 2024

#BREAKING: John Thune WINS the vote for Senate Majority Leader over John Cornyn

29-24

The Senate has BETRAYED Americans. pic.twitter.com/crnKrzBuX0

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 13, 2024

Republican South Dakota Sen. John Thune won a three-way race to lead Senate Republicans’ 53-seat majority for the first two years of President-elect Donald Trump’s second term.

Senate Republicans are ready to get to work to secure the border, renew American energy dominance, and lower costs for families. With President Trump in the White House, we will work hand-in-hand to get America back on track. pic.twitter.com/IaaRyLG3P0

— Senator John Thune (@SenJohnThune) November 6, 2024

Thune defeated Republican Texas Sen. John Cornyn in the second round of voting, with 29 senators supporting Thune and 24 voting for Cornyn. The vote was conducted by secret ballot and required the winning candidate to surpass a 27-vote threshold.

Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida received 13 votes in the first round — the least amount among the three hopefuls—and was eliminated before the second round of voting.

Thune’s ascension to Senate Majority leader ends Republican Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 17-year tenure as the top-ranking Republican in the Senate. Thune, currently the second most powerful Republican in the Senate, has served as the Senate Republican whip since 2019 and is in his fourth senate term.

Rounding out the Senate GOP’s leadership team by order of rank is Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming as Senate minority whip, Tom Cotton of Arkansas as Republican conference chair, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia as Republican policy conference chair, James Lankford of Oklahoma as Republican conference vice-chair and Tim Scott of South Carolina as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Senate Republicans’ campaign arm.

Scott netted eight endorsements, including Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Ted Cruz of Texas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Marco Rubio of Florida.

Four senators publicly backed Thune, including Republican Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota and Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma. Republican Montana Sen. Steve Daines, the current NRSC head, also supported Thune’s candidacy, Punchbowl News reported.

The only Republican senator to endorse Cornyn’s bid was Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley.

Trump did not back a candidate for Senate Republican leader, but he urged all three leadership hopefuls to agree to recess appointments, which would let Trump nominees bypass Senate confirmation.

“Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote on X on Nov. 10. “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again. We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY! Additionally, no Judges should be approved during this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. THANK YOU!”

All three candidates seeking to replace McConnell were receptive to Trump’s request.

“We must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s nominees in place as soon as possible, & all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments. We cannot let Schumer and Senate Dems block the will of the American people,” Thune wrote on X on Nov. 10.

Many influential figures in Trump’s orbit, including Elon Musk and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., supported Scott’s bid.

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