John Thune Wins Race To Replace ‘Apex Predator’ McConnell as Senate GOP Leader

Thune, who has represented South Dakota in the upper chamber since 2005, bested Texas’s John Cornyn and Florida’s Rick Scott

Longtime Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell officially has a replacement: South Dakota’s John Thune, who bested Texas’s John Cornyn and Florida’s Rick Scott in the race to succeed the outgoing Kentuckian.

The result marks the conclusion of months of speculation regarding McConnell’s successor after the Kentucky Republican in February announced his intention to step down as GOP leader. Thune, Cornyn, and Scott all launched bids for the post over the next three months.

Thune and Cornyn ran more traditional campaigns aimed at leveraging their relationships within the Senate GOP conference. Scott, by contrast, centered his bid on his relationship with Donald Trump, openly vying for an endorsement from the president-elect.

Though Trump’s online allies campaigned loudly for Scott, Trump himself refrained from weighing in on the contest. Scott finished third in the first round of closed-door voting, which eliminated him from contention. Thune then defeated Cornyn by a 29-24 margin.

Thune will now take on the difficult task of filling McConnell’s shoes.

During McConnell’s reign as leader, the Senate confirmed three Trump-appointed Supreme Court justices and more than 200 other federal judges, transforming the judiciary in the process. McConnell is perhaps best known for preventing then-president Barack Obama from filling the seat of the late Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia during the final months of Obama’s presidency. Trump eventually filled the seat with conservative Neil Gorsuch, and McConnell in 2019 called the move “the most consequential thing I’ve ever done.” Journalists went on to shower McConnell with menacing nicknames such as “Midnight Mitch” and “apex predator.”

Thune represented South Dakota in the House from 1997 to 2003 before rising to the upper chamber in 2005. The son of a World War II pilot, Thune became the GOP’s chief deputy whip in 2006 and climbed the Senate Republican ranks from there, serving as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee and then the Republican Conference. His colleagues chose him as whip, the second-highest ranking position in the caucus, in 2020.

Sen. John Barrasso (Wyo.) will take over as Republican whip.

“I am extremely honored to have earned the support of my colleagues to lead the Senate in the 119th Congress, and I am beyond proud of the work we have done to secure our majority and the White House,” Thune said in a statement. “This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.”

On the House side of the Capitol, both Democrats and Republicans held caucus meetings of their own. Trump spoke at the Republican meeting and lauded House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), calling him a “tremendous guy.”

“Mike, you’re going to have a tremendous year. Tremendous two years,” Trump reportedly said. “Get it all done. Unify.”

House Democrats, by contrast, sniped at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, stressing the need to “get rid of all of the consultants and pollsters,” according to Politico‘s Daniella Diaz. Going forward, they plan to hold “listening sessions” to “dissect election results and messaging strategy.”