John Thune triumphed in his campaign for Republican leader by focusing on two things: Republican senators and mending his relationship with Donald Trump.
In recent months he has donated a lot of money to colleagues and participated in their campaigns. He spoke directly to Trump frequently, including after last week’s general election. And he ignored a conservative and MAGA world pressure campaign to elect Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as Republican leader.
“I was focused on my colleagues,” Thune said. He narrowly defeated Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) on the second ballot by a vote of 29 to 24. Scott fell on the first ballot.
His ability to navigate his way to victory in this political environment is an early signal of how Thune plans to strike a balance between leading a historically bipartisan institution and appeasing Trump as Republicans shut down all branches of government check.
Thune, like his predecessor, current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is an industrialist and has tried to stay in touch with Trump while focusing heavily on the senators who will actually keep him in power. Senators who ultimately support Thune indicate that they remain interested in clinging to their powers in Congress even as they try to greenlight much of Trump’s agenda — many of Thune’s supporters cited sticking to separation of rights powers as one of their motivations on the way to the vote.
Still, it was important to senators that Thune ended his rift with Trump after a series of public criticisms of the former president. Thune said after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol that Trump’s actions were “inexcusable.” He was also the first member of the Republican leadership of Congress to call on Trump to withdraw from the presidential race after the infamous Access Hollywood tape was made public.
But even conservative senators aren’t concerned about that history, at least not right now.
“J.D. Vance once called him Hitler, and he’s vice president,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told POLITICO of Thune’s past criticism of Trump. “So one thing I know about Donald Trump is that he has that kind of funny, manly ability to let the past be the past and hug and pray in the middle of the 50-yard line after the game.”
Cramer, a supporter of Thune, called Trump “not an irrelevant factor, but not the most important factor” in the votes of most senators on the leadership list.
“They’re on good terms,” added Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who has spent time with Trump and is an ally of Thune. “There is no gap between them. There are no concerns about their relationship at all.”
Still, major areas of potential disagreement loom over the next two years, particularly over the fate of the filibuster in the Senate. The president-elect has at times called for abolishing the 60-vote threshold, including pushing hard for then-Majority Leader McConnell during Trump’s first term in the White House, while Thune has publicly confirmed his intention is to maintain the current threshold.
And there are still moderates in the House who could be a thorn in Thune’s side when it comes to nominees or other conservative priorities. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) have at times been outspoken against the president. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, is still in the chamber.
Trump, in Washington for meetings with the House Republican Conference and President Joe Biden, did not immediately comment after the approval of the new GOP leadership slate in the Senate. But Thune and Trump have spoken frequently in recent months, including a phone call after Thune won on Wednesday.
“[Thune] said over and over again that he would make President Trump’s agenda his agenda, and I feel good about that,” prominent conservative Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo), who endorsed Cornyn, said after the vote.
Multiple senators pointed out that Thune’s voting record matched Trump’s more than 90 percent of the time during the president-elect’s first term, according to a FiveThirtyEight average, a point underscored during a candidates forum Tuesday and during nomination speeches Wednesday .
“President Trump and Sen. Thune, I think, will do a great job working together,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.). “Sen. Thune is ready for change and he knows America expects results.”
That voting record, however, does not reflect some of Thune’s past feuds with Trump. In addition to comments on Jan. 6 and the Access Hollywood tapes, Thune recently endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) initially in the 2024 Republican primary before switching to Trump after the South Carolinian withdrew from the race. Trump even tried to recruit a primary challenger against Thune for his 2022 re-election bid, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Despite that history and their losses, Cornyn and Scott both expressed support for Thune’s leadership and pledged that Republicans would stick together to implement their agenda.
“There is no division,” Cornyn insisted. “I think it is very important that our conference stays together to be as effective as possible. … It was a secret ballot, so I don’t think any of us know exactly who voted for who.”
That dynamic is something Thune tacitly acknowledged after the vote, promising to be “a leader who serves the entire Republican conference.”
“This Republican team is united. We are on one team,” Thune said. “We have a mandate from the American people.”
Eleanor Mueller, Meredith Lee Hill and Caitlin Emma contributed to this report.
