WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump’s dramatic victory has thrown into disarray next week’s three-way race to replace Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the chamber’s longest-serving leader who is stepping down at the end of this year.
Two of McConnell’s trusted lieutenants — Senate Minority Whip John Thune, of South Dakota, the second Republican leader, and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, who previously held that role — as well as Sen. Rick Scott, a conservative bombshell. from Trump’s home state of Florida, are all candidates for leader after Republicans regained the majority in Tuesday’s elections.
A third John considered a potential candidate, GOP Conference Chairman John Barrasso of Wyoming, decided not to run for the top job and instead run for the No. 2 majority post.
Because of their years of leadership and relationships in the GOP conference, Thune and Cornyn were seen as McConnell’s most likely successors. But the pair have broken with Trump on several occasions and have spent the year trying to make amends with the former and now future president.
As Trump returns to power, Scott and his conservative allies are arguing that he should be the one to lead the Senate, despite winning just 10 votes when he challenged McConnell for the top job two years ago.
The Trump loyalist personally asked Trump for his support in May when he informed the former president he was making a bid for the Republican leader, a source familiar with the conservation effort told NBC News.
“He supported me when I ran against McConnell two years ago; I hope he will support me this time,” Scott said on Fox Business on Wednesday, adding that he and Trump texted back and forth. “I am doing everything I can to ensure that his agenda is achieved.”
Trump has not spoken publicly about the race and is staying out of it for now, according to a Republican source who spoke on condition of anonymity to share private strategy.
An ally of both Scott and Trump, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., urged Trump to support Scott, a former Florida governor who was seeking re-election to the Senate on Tuesday night.
“If you have any influence on President Trump, ask President Trump to come out publicly and say he wants to work with someone as capable as Rick Scott to advance his agenda. We have to do big things. We have to deliver,” Johnson told a host on the conservative network, “The First.”
“We need outside-the-box paradigm-shifting thinking in the United States Senate, and working with President Trump, he’s going to need something like Rick Scott,” Johnson said. “So urge the president to publicly endorse Rick Scott — that’s probably what Rick will need to become majority leader.”
But while Trump has been the country’s most powerful Republican for nearly nine years, it is not clear that an endorsement from him would guarantee a victory for Scott. Leadership elections are behind closed doors and conducted by secret ballot, meaning a senator’s vote is not publicly known.
To win, a candidate needs a simple majority. If no candidate receives one on the first ballot, the candidate with the fewest votes is cast aside and the race goes against the top two candidates.
Triumphant Republicans return to Washington next week. Utah Sen. Mike Lee plans to host a forum with the trio of candidates on Tuesday. The election will take place on Wednesday and newly elected senators, including Bernie Moreno of Ohio, Tim Sheehy of Montana and Jim Justice of West Virginia, will be able to participate.
Thune appeared on CNBC this week and encouraged Trump to stay out of the internal leadership race.
“Obviously, if he wants to, he can exert a significant amount of influence on that, but honestly I think it would be my preference, and I think it’s probably in his best interest, to stay out of that.” , Thune said.
“These secret ballot elections for the Senate are probably best left to the senators, and he should work with all of us when it’s all said and done,” Thune added, “but whatever he decides to do will be privilege, as we know.”
Thune’s comments are interesting because he probably has the most work to do to convince his colleagues that he is on the same page as Trump. Thune criticized Trump for his actions around January 6, 2021, as well as some policy proposals and his offensive rhetoric. He endorsed fellow Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in the presidential primaries, then endorsed Trump months later after Scott dropped out.
Last year, Cornyn said that Trump could not win in 2024, that “President Trump’s time is over” and that he would look for other candidates to join the Republican primaries. Months later, as Trump destroyed his main opponents, Cornyn endorsed Trump.
In the lead-up to the leadership race, both Thune and Cornyn have tried to make peace with Trump. Thune visited him at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in March and they have spoken several times since, most recently last week, according to a source familiar with Thune’s schedule.
Cornyn joined Trump last month at a rally in Reno, Nevada, for Republican Senate candidate Sam Brown, whose race is currently too close to call, according to NBC News projections. Cornyn was also with Trump during his visit to Texas.
“As I told President Trump, I am interested in getting the band back together,” Cornyn told Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Monday.
Yet it is the votes of their Republican colleagues that these candidates will need. And Cornyn and Thune hope their travels and relationships with both current and incoming senators will serve as a bridge between the more moderate wing of the Republican conference and the party’s MAGA wing, which was already growing in influence before Trump’s victory on Tuesday .
A source familiar with Thune’s activities said he has raised more than $33 million this cycle through his accounts, for the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and directly for candidates. He was one of the top fundraisers for the NRSC, headlining more than 200 events this cycle for candidates and the NRSC, the source said.
Cornyn, who served as whip before Thune, touts that he served as a vote counter for the Republican leadership when Trump’s tax cuts passed in the Senate. The Texan also spent October visiting battleground states to campaign with candidates and raised more than $26 million by the end of September, a source familiar with his political activities said.
He has crisscrossed the country campaigning for colleagues including Sen. Ted Cruz, a fellow Republican from Texas for whom he has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars this cycle.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
