Donald Trump got a bit of a rebuke from Senate Republicans, who voted on Wednesday to name John Thune, a Mitch McConnell loyalist, the Senate Majority Leader, in a race with Trump’s pick, Rick Scott, and a third candidate, John Cornyn.
Scott, R-Florida, had the public backing of Trump loyalists including Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but he didn’t even make it to the second round of voting.
Thune, R-South Dakota, got 23 votes in the first ballot, with Cornyn, R-Texas, getting 15, another McConnell acolyte, and Scott getting 13.
In the final vote, Thune won by a 29-24 margin.
Thune served as the minority whip under McConnell, who announced earlier this year that he wouldn’t seek re-election to the party caucus leadership post.
Thune will preside over either a 52-48 or 53-47 Republican majority in the Senate, pending the outcome of the Pennsylvania Senate race between Democratic incumbent Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick, who has a 30,000-vote lead with roughly 90,000 votes remaining to be counted in that race.
I wouldn’t expect Thune to be a guardrail on Trump-type guy, but it is notable that Trump didn’t get his guy in that spot.
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Chris Graham
