On Wednesday, November 13, the Senate Republican Conference elected Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to succeed Mitch McConnell as GOP leader in the upper chamber. Thune will assume the role of Senate Majority Leader in the 119th Congress.
The South Dakota senator won enough support in the second round of voting to defeat Sen. John Cornyn of Texas. The other contender, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, received the fewest votes in the first round and was knocked out of contention.
Mitch McConnell has led the Senate Republican Conference since 2007. Thune is currently his number two. McConnell’s departure perhaps marks a shift in the party’s direction at the congressional level – away from the establishment old guard and into the arms of Trumpian America First populists. The 45th president and McConnell may have been reading from the same book, but they were not often on the same page.
