Contests for Senate majority leader and the suddenly open House Republican conference chair position headline GOP leadership elections on Capitol Hill this week, with open jockeying for both posts.
Senate Republican Whip John Thune of South Dakota, along with former Whip John Cornyn of Texas and Florida Sen. Rick Scott, are vying to succeed the current leader, Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has been atop the GOP leadership hierarchy since 2007.
As the incumbent in the No. 2 position seeking to move up, Thune might rightly be regarded as the favorite, though there has been on outside push from businessman Elon Musk and other prominent backers of President-elect Donald Trump for Scott, who is considered the insurgent candidate of the three. Scott chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 2022 campaign cycle, when Republicans lost a Senate seat, and afterward challenged McConnell’s leadership for the current Congress. He has been a recurring critic of leadership.
