Thune Moves Ahead With Leadership Vote As Senators Demand Delay
Senate Republicans are moving forward with plans to hold their internal leadership elections this Tuesday. This vote will pick the new team for the Congress starting in January. The party will soon be in the minority after losing control of the chamber. Yet a group of senators wants to stop the process to discuss what went wrong.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he is ready to hear arguments about delaying the vote. But he does not think waiting will fix the recent election results. Thune told reporters at the Capitol that he was “open to hearing what the arguments are” on delaying the elections. He added that he doubted such a move would be productive. “I don’t know if that solves anything,” Thune told reporters at the Capitol.
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is leading the charge to postpone the election. He collected the five signatures needed to force a full meeting of the conference. Johnson warned that he would not stay if the vote happens on schedule. “If you hold the election, I’ll leave the room,” Johnson told a Washington Examiner reporter Monday. He believes the party must look at its failures before picking new leaders.
Johnson called the recent election results a “stunning defeat” in a letter to his colleagues. He argued that rushing to vote would be “political malpractice,” according to reports. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana joined the effort to delay the proceedings. He said the party needs time to focus and reach a consensus on necessary changes. “The best analogy I’ve heard is that we’re like a store owner who’s losing his customers,” Kennedy said. He insisted it is the store owner’s job to fix the problem, not the customer’s.
Other senators supporting the delay include Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania. Ted Budd of North Carolina and Jim Banks of Indiana also voiced support for waiting. Banks stated that “tomorrow is too soon” to elect new leadership. McCormick issued a similar call for a pause just a day earlier.
Senator Rick Scott says he will not support Thune without a clear plan for the future. He wants to know how Republicans will pass key laws in the lame-duck session. Scott told Fox News Digital that he does not want to “put the cart before the horse.” He believes the first step is deciding what the party wants to accomplish. “I mean, I think the first step is what do we want to accomplish?” Scott said. He added that anyone seeking the top job must answer that question first.
Scott wants specific promises on balancing the budget and passing a stock trading ban. He also listed permitting reform and the National Defense Authorization Act as priorities. He argues these actions show voters that Republicans are listening. “Back home, they don’t care about anything other than do we make their lives better,” Scott said. He noted that only five senators signed the letter requesting the special meeting.
Thune is running unopposed for the top job and expects to win a second term. Democrats assuming power in January will see him aim for the minority leader role. Democrats flipped the upper chamber with wins in several red states. They now hold a 54-seat majority that could grow with pending results in Alaska and Mississippi.
The final call on whether to postpone the vote rests with Conference Chair Tom Cotton. He must decide if the request for a meeting will be granted. Thune has left the question to his colleagues while preparing for the election. He expects a “very engaged conversation” before the vote takes place.
Thune told reporters that he is running for leader and wants the discussion to happen. “We’ll see where it goes from there, but, yeah, I’m running for leader,” Thune said. Tuesday’s vote in the Old Senate Chamber is scheduled to occur. If the delay effort fails, the election will proceed as planned. If it succeeds, the conference must first debate the midterm losses.