John Thune Voted New Senate Majority Leader — Despite MAGA’s Opposition

After almost two decades leading the Republican Senate Caucus, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has finally been replaced. 

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), who is currently the Senate’s Republican whip, will be the new Senate Majority Leader. Republican senators voted to replace McConnell in a secret ballot on Wednesday. Thune will assume the mantle when the new Congress is sworn in early next year. Republicans won back the Senate majority earlier this month, turning four seats red.

Thune, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) were all in the running. Scott was eliminated after the first vote, with Thune receiving 23 votes, Cornyn receiving 15, and Scott receiving 13. Two senators abstained. Thune won the second ballot 29-24.

“I am extremely honored to have earned the support of my colleagues to lead the Senate in the 119th Congress, and I am beyond proud of the work we have done to secure our majority and the White House,” Thune wrote in a statement on Wednesday. “This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.”

Trump did not endorse a candidate ahead of the election, although many of his hardline supporters, including Elon Musk, pushed hard for Scott. All three candidates signaled they would be open to supporting Trump’s push for recess appointments, which would allow the president to install some officials without Senate confirmation. When asked about recess appointments after winning on Wednesday, Thune said it “remains to be seen” how they get Trump’s nominees installed, and that he is expecting “a level of cooperation from the Democrats.”

Thune’s election is a sign that the Senate still wields some independence from the MAGA movement. Thune endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) over Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, and Trump’s closest allies reportedly pushed him to do whatever he could to prevent Thune from taking control of the Senate. Thune isn’t up for reelection until 2028.
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The newly elected majority leader will hold a huge amount of power to enact the right’s agenda, with Donald Trump in the White House, Republicans on the verge of retaining control of the House of Representatives, and conservatives dominating the Supreme Court.

McConnell and the president-elect have been at odds for years after having a generally positive relationship during Trump’s first term. McConnell infamously blocked former President Barack Obama from filling the Supreme Court case vacated by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, and helped the president-elect secure three Supreme Court appointments in four years, and oversaw a unified Congress during the first two years of Trump’s administration. 

The relationship between the two soured irreparably in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Shortly after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, McConnell directly stated that the mob seeking to usurp the election results was “fed lies” and was “provoked by the president and other powerful people.”

McConnell would ultimately vote against convicting Trump in his second impeachment but the rift between the two Republicans didn’t go away. Trump publicly maligned McConnell at every turn, dubbing him “Moscow Mitch,” attacking him as a RINO Republican, and leveling racist jabs against his wife, who is Chinese. 

Not only was McConnell on the outs in a party that kept growing more beholden to Trumpism, he was visibly deteriorating before the public eye. In February, after multiple incidents in which he seemed to literally freeze and stare off into space for extended moments at public events, McConnell announced he would be vacating his leadership role. 
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“Believe me, I know the politics within my party at this particular moment in time,” McConnell said when announcing his retirement. “I have many faults. Misunderstanding politics is not one of them.”

He’s out, and a new generation of Republicans have a deathgrip on power.