Contests for Senate majority leader and the suddenly open House Republican conference chair position headline GOP leadership elections on Capitol Hill this week, with open jockeying for both posts.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota, along with former Whip John Cornyn of Texas and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, are vying to succeed the current leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been atop the GOP leadership hierarchy since 2007.
As the incumbent in the No. 2 position seeking to move up, Thune might rightly be regarded as the favorite, though there has been on outside push from businessman Elon Musk and other prominent backers of President-elect Donald Trump for Scott, who is considered the insurgent candidate of the three. Scott chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2022 campaign cycle, when Republicans lost a Senate seat, and afterward challenged McConnell’s leadership for the current Congress. He has been a recurring critic of leadership.
“As Congress returns to Washington, we must prepare the Senate to advance that agenda legislatively and ensure that the president-elect can hit the ground running with his appointees confirmed as soon as possible,” Thune wrote in a Fox News opinion piece. “The Senate Republican majority will work with President Trump to ensure the Senate calendar allows us to confirm his nominees and pass our shared agenda as quickly and as efficiently as possible.”
Cornyn laid out more details of how he would lead the conference in a Dear Colleague letter on Tuesday, obtained by CQ Roll Call. In the letter, he suggested he would open up the Senate floor process to give senators the chance to offer amendments.
“It’s no secret that the Senate has not functioned as it should for some time,” Cornyn wrote.
He said the Senate would return to a “committee process to drive an aggressive legislative agenda,” and that the “default position” for legislation being considered on the floor would be an open amendment process led by committee chairs.
He also vowed to have conversations with all members “on a consistent and ongoing basis” about preparation to bring bills to the floor and said conversations would begin during the lame duck period and early next year about “how to improve transparency, floor efficiency, and maximize GOP voices in the legislative process.”
The Senate would prioritize President-elect Trump’s Cabinet and national security nomination, judicial nominations and extending the 2017 tax law, he wrote. He also said the Senate would “reserve a substantial amount of floor time for appropriations bills.”
“In order to Make America Great Again, we must Make the Senate Work Again,” he wrote.
Outside support for one candidate or another may not be much of a factor in a secret-ballot election with a constituency of a little more than 50 fellow senators and senators-elect. A reporter at the local Fox affiliate in Nashville, Tenn., reported that a protest is expected outside of Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s office there Tuesday against the secret ballot. The election itself is scheduled for Wednesday.
Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, currently the chairman of the Republican Conference, is running and expected to be unopposed for the whip job in the next Congress. That opens up Barrasso’s current slot, which Axios reported over the holiday weekend was on track to go to Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas in what has been a contested race against Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.
Across the Dome
House Republicans, who according to The Associated Press are nearing control of the 218 seats needed to maintain control of the chamber next year, are likely to back their current top leaders once again. But the victory by Trump and his subsequent decision to announce he would nominate Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to be ambassador to the United Nations, has opened up Stefanik’s current leadership role as Republican conference chair.
Stefanik said Monday she would withdraw from her leadership reelection bid, sending a letter to colleagues to that effect. The House GOP leadership elections are also expected on Wednesday.
The Stefanik news, while not unexpected, set off a frenzy among Republicans seeking the newly open seat at the leadership table.
“With the mandate the American people gave President Trump and my fellow Republicans on Tuesday, we need to deliver results now more than ever,” Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla., said Monday, announcing her bid.
Other contenders include Michigan Rep. Lisa McClain, the current conference secretary, as well as Indiana Rep. Erin Houchin.
“The role of Conference Chair is not about being in the spotlight; it’s about amplifying our members’ voices and providing them the tools they need,” Houchin said, touting her candidacy on X. “As legacy media fades, I’ll carry forward President Trump’s approach of taking our message directly to the American people and I will do my part to help our conference succeed.”
Assuming the majority is secured, Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana will likely win the backing of fellow Republicans for the position again in the 119th Congress, though that role is a constitutional office elected by the whole House. While the House Republican majority is again expected to be thin, Johnson will again need to rally the votes and secure attendance of his members to hold on to the job. The speaker election is slated for Jan. 3, when the new congress is sworn in.
Trump is slated to be at the Capitol on Wednesday and to address House Republicans in person. He is also scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday as part of the presidential transition process.
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