John Thune, a Republican senator for South Dakota, will become the new Senate majority leader after winning an internal party ballot on Wednesday for the position left vacant by the imminent retirement of Mitch McConnell.
His elevation – following the second round of a vote among Republican senators that was held under secret ballot conditions – propels him into a key role in advancing Donald Trump’s agenda when the president-elect returns to the White House in January.
Thune, currently the Republican whip in the Senate, beat John Cornyn of Texas 29-24 on a second ballot after an initial round that saw the elimination of the Florida senator Rick Scott, a favourite of Maga conservatives.
The South Dakota senator won the backing of 25 of his GOP colleagues to Cornyn’s 15 in the initial ballot, with Scott getting 13 votes.
“I am extremely honoured 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 said in a statement after the vote. “This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.”
Thune has previously been a critic of Trump and called his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol “inexcusable”. Trump responded by calling him a “Rino” (Republican in name only) and calling for him to face a primary challenge in his 2022 bid for re-election to the Senate.
But the two reconciled, and Thune visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last March and endorsed his presidential candidacy.
Trump did not endorse any candidate in the election to replace McConnell, with whom he had a frosty relationship and often clashed.
However, some of his most fervent backers – including the entrepreneur Elon Musk, the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk and the broadcaster Tucker Carlson – vocally backed Scott. Kirk, in particular, drew attention to Thune’s past criticism of Trump in social media posts at the weekend.
But the interventions seemed to backfire, with some senators voicing anger at the attempts of outsiders to influence their vote.
Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, continued to snipe at Thune after his victory, warning him that he was on notice to get Trump’s agenda passed and have his senior appointments confirmed in Senate hearings.
“He has a short window to show us he will support President Trump, fill his cabinet, confirm his judges, and pass his agenda,” Kirk wrote. “If he does, we will support him. If he doesn’t, we will work to remove him.”
However, Thune received words of support from another Trump backer, the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, who said he had voted for him in the leadership election and predicted that he would be a reliable ally to Trump and Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker.
“When it comes to enacting the Make America Great Again Agenda, President Trump will have no better ally than Majority Leader John Thune,” Graham said.
