Sen. John Thune is in his fourth Senate term and has promised to work closely with Trump, despite differences the two have had over the years.
With the election of Sen. John Thune of South Dakota as the next Senate majority leader, Republicans have completed a historic leadership transition that places Mitch McConnell’s top deputy in a pivotal role when President-elect Donald Trump comes to the White House.
Despite their disagreements over the years, Thune, 63, is in his fourth term in the Senate and has pledged to work closely with Trump. He will play a significant role in the next president’s attempts to advance his legislative agenda.
Thune said he was “incredibly honored to have earned the support of my colleagues” in a statement.
He declared, “Our work begins today, and this Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda.”
In two rounds of voting, Thune secured the majority of GOP senators’ votes in a secret ballot vote, defeating two rivals, Sens. John Cornyn and Rick Scott. Several participants who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the secret discussion said that Scott was eliminated in the first round and that Thune and Cornyn ultimately voted 29–24.
As they are ready to seize majority control of the Senate with the 53 seats they won in last week’s elections, Republicans are replacing McConnell, the Senate party leader with the longest tenure.
The candidates’ connection with Trump dominated a large portion of the campaign. After publicly criticizing Trump’s attempt to alter the 2020 presidential election results, which he described as “inexcusable,” Thune has attempted to mend fences.
Thune has re-aligned with Trump in recent months, paying him a visit at his Florida residence and discussing ways to carry out the agenda of the incoming president. Over the summer, Thune told The Associated Press that he saw their possible connection as a business partnership. “We have a job to do” if both of them win their races, Thune stated.
Thune made it apparent that he would pay attention to Trump’s demands when he presented his case. Thune retorted that the Senate must “quickly and decisively” act to put nominees in place and that “all options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments,” in response to Trump’s X Sunday post stating that the new leader “must agree” to let him appoint Cabinet members and others during recess, avoiding confirmation votes.
For a large portion of the year, Thune has been seen as the frontrunner and is a well-liked and regarded communicator. He is from the more orthodox part of the Republican Party, just like McConnell.
He has been the Republican whip, the second-ranking member of the party leadership, since 2019. He was previously the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. When McConnell went on medical leave last year, he filled in for him for a few weeks. This was viewed by many as a kind of audition because there was a lot of conjecture about McConnell’s future.
Thune’s 2004 Senate race, in which he defeated then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle after claiming throughout the campaign that Daschle had abandoned his South Dakota origins during his years in Democratic leadership, makes his victory all the more remarkable. Thune will take over as majority leader himself in 20 years.
Thune spent a large portion of the year advocating for his colleagues as he prepared to compete for leader. His aides claim that he collected over $31 million this cycle to elect Republicans to the Senate, including transferring $4 million from his own campaign funds to the Senate’s primary campaign organization.
Many in the conference found Thune and Cornyn to be comparable candidates, making the election challenging. On policy, they are similar, sometimes cooperating with Democrats but often voting in accordance with the conference. Two years ago, Cornyn, a seasoned member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, played a pivotal role in the bipartisan gun legislation.
However, the two disagreed on a crucial demand from certain conservatives: whether the leader should be term restricted. Thune did not fight for boundaries the way Cornyn did.
The former governor of Florida, Scott, was elected to the Senate in 2018 and immediately established himself as McConnell’s antithesis. He ran against McConnell for the job of leader in 2022 and sided with Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and other individuals who have been vocally critical of the present administration.
Throughout the year, Scott was occupied with his own reelection campaign, while Thune and Cornyn courted their colleagues one by one. He easily won by almost ten points over Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
Scott ramped up his campaign for GOP leader when he was re-elected last week. He openly positioned himself as the candidate closest to Trump and garnered support from those close to the previous and future president, including entrepreneur Elon Musk. However, some wondered if such a tactic might backfire.
Although he had spoken with Scott as well, Rounds stated that he preferred the way Thune and Cornyn had “handled it one-on-one with everybody.” Before the race, he declared, “We have three qualified people.”