Senate Republicans reelected South Dakota Senator John Thune as their leader on Tuesday after a tense day of private discussions about steep losses in the midterm elections that cost them their majority. Thune ran unopposed and was elected by acclamation, without a roll call vote, in a secret ballot leadership election. Before the vote, some Republicans tried to delay the leadership decision, but the conference voted 31 to 15 to proceed after Thune made his case, laying out his vision for the minority and promising to make the most of the two months the party still holds the majority.
The rest of the leadership slate was reelected unchallenged. Wyoming Senator John Barrasso stays as whip, Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton remains conference chair, West Virginia Senator Shelley Moore Capito keeps the policy committee chair, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford stays as conference vice chair, and Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno takes the campaign committee chair. The frustration in the room was recorded rather than acted on. West Virginia Senator Jim Justice said there was a legitimate argument that a party that lost as badly as Republicans did should not continue with the same leadership, while adding that the current team did a good job and did not cause the defeat. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who voted to delay, said a party that does not think it needs to change course after losing at least seven Senate seats is on another planet.
Thune’s first pledge was about the calendar. He committed the conference to extending the lame duck session through November and December, with more days, more hours and more votes, to confirm as many of President Trump’s judicial and executive nominees as possible and to finish the year’s legislation before Democrats take control in January. The conference adopted a resolution to that effect before the leadership vote, and Missouri Senator Eric Schmitt said leaders had committed to clearing as many nominees as the chamber can manage, putting the window at the next 54 days. The remaining legislative business includes funding the government past the December 11 stopgap expiry and an energy permitting bill that advanced on a bipartisan vote on Monday evening.
Thune, who replaced Mitch McConnell as leader in early 2025, will become minority leader when the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027. Republicans now hold 53 seats and the Associated Press projected 44 next year, with Alaska and Mississippi still uncalled at the time of the vote. His power in the minority rests on the 60 vote threshold for advancing legislation, which survives unless Democrats change the rule he himself refused to scrap for voting legislation, a refusal that frustrated President Trump. After the vote Thune said Republicans would listen intently to voters, named the cost of living as the issue that matters most, and promised an active minority: the party will not be running the Senate next year, but it will assert conservative priorities and force the new majority to work for its wins.