Senate Republicans Reject MAGA for Mitch McConnell Ally in Shock Vote
Senate Republicans delivered a blow to Donald Trump.

South Dakota Senator John Thune will replace Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell as the chamberâs Republican caucus leader.
Thune won by a margin of five points, securing 25 votes to helm the party. Thune is, in many ways, a natural successor for the role. He has served as the Senate Republican whip since 2019, and has practically managed the Senate floor since McConnell suffered a concussion in 2023.
âI 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,â Thune said in a statement after the vote. âThis Republican team is united behind President Trumpâs agenda, and our work starts today.â
Thune was also the popular choice among Senate Republicans, with colleagues describing him as affable, well liked, and humble, according to The Hill.
But regardless of the plain logistics of Thuneâs win, his ascension to the top of Senate GOP leadership serves as an interesting start to Donald Trumpâs second term, marking the possibility that the upper chamber will remain an independent entity separate from the president-electâs whims. Thune is an establishment conservative and longtime McConnell ally who has not always seen eye to eye with Trump. Thune won in two rounds of voting, despite an aggressive lobbying campaign by some of Trumpâs key allies, including Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, and Charlie Kirk, who claimed Florida Senator Rick Scott would be a better alternative for the MAGA administration.
âWithout Rick Scott, the entire Trump reform agenda wobbly,â Kennedy Jr. posted on X last week, responding to a rant by Carlson in which he claimed that Thune and the other man in the race, Texas Senator John Cornyn, âhate Trump and what he ran on.â
Ultimately, the Scott campaign rubbed some Republicans the wrong way, driving a deeper intraparty rift between neoconservatives and Trumpâs far-right base. But the secret ballot vote ensured total privacy for a group of senators, many of whom are unthreatened by reelection odds until 2028 or later, to side for or against Trumpâs candidate.
Still, Thune passed a Trumpian litmus test Sunday night, quickly bending the knee to the chief Republicanâs unusual demand that whoever won the position unequivocally agree to recess appointments and thwart the appointment of Democratic judges.
This story has been updated.