Republicans elected Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to serve as majority leader in next Senate session, replacing current GOP caucus leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., with another institutionalist distrusted by the MAGA world — but one largely willing to cooperate with President-elect Donald Trump to keep the GOP in power and pass conservative policies.
The current Republican whip prevailed over former whip Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and former National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in a closed-door secret vote held Wednesday. Prominent MAGA figures rallied behind Scott, who frequently clashed with McConnell and was the most vocally loyal to Trump of the three candidates, but that did Scott little good: He was knocked out of the first round of voting with only 13 votes. In the subsequent runoff, Thune received 29 votes to Cornyn's 24.
