John Thune Elected Senate Majority Leader

Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected South Dakota Senator John Thune as the next leader of the conference. 

Thune defeated Texas Senator John Cornyn by a vote of 29 to 24. Florida Senator Rick Scott, an outsider candidate favored by prominent Trump allies including Elon Musk, was eliminated on the first ballot. Thune, 63, is the current Senate Republican Whip. Cornyn, 72, had been the whip in the past.

Thune will be the first new head of the Republican conference in nearly two decades, taking over after Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced earlier this year that he would step down from the post after 18 years. McConnell leaves the role as the longest-serving conference leader in Senate history.

Senate Republican leadership elections are “first past the post,” meaning the eventual leader must receive a majority of the votes. Scott received the least amount of votes on the first ballot and dropped from the race. Thune received a majority on the second ballot.

The new GOP leadership team will enter the Senate alongside Republican President Donald Trump in the White House and a Republican majority in the House. The Senate team will be primarily responsible for working with the White House to staff the incoming Trump administration and enact Republicans’ legislative priorities.

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Despite the anticipation and public pressure, few senators revealed how they planned to vote in the secret ballot ahead of time.

Trump, who did not publicly weigh into the race, said on Sunday that he expected whoever won the leadership race to support recess appointments for his administration, which could allow the president to fill top roles in the government for two years without a vote in the Senate.

“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 in a post on X. “Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again.”

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. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2024

McConnell announced in February that he would finish his current term as leader before stepping aside for someone else to lead the conference. McConnell’s decision came amid concerns about his health. The senator appeared to freeze multiple times in front of reporters, appearing confused and unable to function.