Republicans Meet To Pick a New Senate Leader

Mitch McConnell casts a long shadow

For the first time in 18 years, the Senate GOP will have a new leader today:

Starting at 9:30 a.m., the GOP Conference will meet privately in the Old Senate Chamber to choose a successor to Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

The stakes are tremendously high for Senate Minority Whip John Thune, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.). With President-elect Donald Trump pushing GOP lawmakers to hit the ground running in January, the new Senate majority leader will be in the middle of just about everything during the 119th Congress.

As the current No. 2 Senate Republican, Thune is seen as the frontrunner and the more dynamic candidate. Cornyn preceded Thune as whip and is up for reelection in 2026, and he’s touted his impressive campaign war chest and legislative dealmaking. Scott just won reelection and is carrying the mantle of the conference’s most conservative members. There’s also an intense pro-Scott online pressure campaign from MAGA media figures.

All three have pledged their loyalty to Trump while arguing they’re the best choice to turn his agenda into reality.

Here’s what we know about who’s doing nominating speeches for the candidates:

— Thune: Sens. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.).

— Scott: Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.).

— Cornyn: Cornyn’s office declined to comment.

— Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.): Sen.-elect Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) are formally nominating Barrasso, who’s running unopposed for the majority whip job. Banks is also speaking on behalf of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in his bid to be the No. 3 Senate Republican against Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa).

Zooming out: Regardless of who wins, the Senate could look and act differently next year — due in large part to Scott and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) banging the drum for years about the need for a complete overhaul of the leadership structure.

Both Thune and Cornyn, close McConnell allies, have embraced many of the same reforms that Scott has proposed, although to a somewhat lesser degree.

“I give Rick Scott lots of credit for lots of things around here,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who supports Thune. “Quite honestly, I think everybody’s sympathetic to Rick’s arguments, I really do. He is forcing the issue.”

More on the expectations for the secret ballot here. My own opinion is biased as I am a former Cornyn staffer (I was his speechwriter for 2004-05) and I have a great deal of respect for the man, but I also agree with many of Scott’s critiques of how the chamber has been run. Moving on from Mitch McConnell is a very big deal, and it could result in numerous changes to the way the Senate behaves, but those changes are likely to be more modest under Thune. But the main tension there between conservatives and leadership isn’t going anywhere, even as Mitch steps away. It’s just the nature of the beast.