gotchanewsdaily.com 
WASHINGTON — Republicans have elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the next Senate majority leader, completing a momentous shift in their leadership that elevates a top deputy of Sen. Mitch McConnell into a key position as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Thune, who is 63 and in his fourth Senate term, has promised to work closely with Trump despite differences the two have had over the years. Thune will be a crucial part of the incoming president’s efforts to push through his policy agenda.
He beat out two other competitors, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida, by gaining majority support from GOP senators in a secret ballot vote.
Republicans are replacing Kentucky’s McConnell, the longest serving Senate party leader, as they prepare to take majority control with the 53 seats they won in last week’s elections.
Like McConnell, Thune hails from the Republican Party’s more traditional wing. He has held the Republican whip position — the No. 2 in party leadership — since 2019.
At times, Thune has countered Trump’s wishes for Congress, and he broke publicly with Trump over the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. But in recent months, Thune has realigned with Trump, and the two have been consulting on how to implement the incoming president’s agenda.
Thune and Cornyn campaigned mostly within the Senate, working senators individually and privately and raising millions of dollars for Senate GOP candidates. Both quickly mobilized in March after McConnell announced he would step aside from leadership.
Scott ran an insurgent campaign outside of the Senate, campaigning publicly as the candidate closest to Trump and winning endorsements from people who are close to the former and future president. Scott received an outpouring of support on X over the weekend as Trump allies, including Elon Musk, pushed his bid.
The choice could set the tone for Trump’s attempts to assert control over the legislative branch in his second presidency. His relationship with McConnell was strained in his first term, and Trump was often frustrated that lawmakers would not fully bend to his will.
Thune has drawn closer to Trump in recent months after criticizing him as he tried to overturn his election defeat in 2020. But Thune is viewed by colleagues as an institutionalist in the mold of McConnell.
All three senators in the running had shown they would defer to the incoming president as the leader of the party, and that they would be willing to cede some of the Senate’s power to do so.
When Trump posted on X Sunday that the new leader “must agree” to allow him to appoint Cabinet members and others when the Senate is on recess, avoiding confirmation votes, all three quickly signaled they were open to the idea.
Senate Republicans met privately in a ceremonial space in the Capitol to hear the candidates make their case before ballots were cast secretly. The clubby contest is a stark contrast from the House, where lawmakers publicly announce their votes for speaker in an election on the House floor.
And aside from Scott’s challenge to McConnell two years ago, in which he won 10 votes, it was the first competitive election for Republican leader in three decades. McConnell, who has been a force for the party but has repeatedly feuded with Trump, was uncontested when he first became party leader in 2007.
“It’s a secret ballot and it’s a secret ballot for a reason,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who said early on he would support his home state colleague Thune. “Each member chooses the leader that they think they can work with the best over this two-year period of time.”
Rounds said that he prefered the way that Thune and Cornyn have “handled it one-on-one with everybody,” but that he had talked to Scott as well. “We’ve got three qualified individuals,” he said.
One thing all candidates agreed on was change from McConnell, who called most of the shots as leader — a top demand from the far-right faction of the caucus who disagreed with McConnell on aid to Ukraine and increasingly turned on him as he feuded with Trump.
Thune, Scott and Cornyn all said they would like to see more opportunity for individual senators to bring bills to the floor and offer amendments, and they have pledged to be better communicators within the conference than the often reserved McConnell. At the forum on Tuesday evening, the three agreed on many of the issues discussed, according to senators leaving the meeting.
Thune, McConnell’s current No. 2, had been seen by colleagues as an incumbent of sorts, having taken over for several weeks last year when McConnell was absent due to medical reasons.
Jalonick and Groves write for the Associated Press.
