Thune in ‘conversations’ to serve as next Senate GOP leader

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) says he is having conversations with colleagues about becoming the next Senate Republican leader and is not at all surprised that former Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) is also jockeying for the job.

Thune told reporters Thursday that he is talking to fellow Republican senators about succeeding Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2025 and he’s emphasizing his record of crafting the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a signature achievement of the Trump administration.

“I’m having lots of conversations with our colleagues, and so getting inside input from them about where they see the future headed and what they want out of the next Senate Republican leader. They’re great conversations,” Thune said.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) was spotted leaving Thune’s office shortly before he made those comments.

Asked about Cornyn’s Thursday announcement that he will run to become the next Senate GOP leader, Thune said he expected his Texas colleague would bid for the job.

“I think these are the worst-kept secrets in Washington right now,” he said, chuckling.

GOP senators have long expected Thune and Cornyn would run against each other to become next Senate Republican leader whenever McConnell announced he would relinquish the post.

They say Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso (Wyo.) may also run for the top leadership job.

McConnell sounded the starter’s gun when he announced on the Senate floor Wednesday that he wouldn’t run for another term as Senate Republican leader and would formally hand over the reins of power in January of next year.

Thune noted Thursday that he spoke to former President Trump before he announced his endorsement of the Republican presidential front-runner Sunday.

He is emphasizing his record of helping Trump enact his landmark tax package and later helping confirm Trump-appointed judges after becoming Senate majority whip in January 2019.

“I have not talked about the race with him. I think others have, but the point I guess I would simply make is: I worked closely with him when he was president last time,” he said. “I was one of the key negotiators in the Senate Finance Committee on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. We put through, I want to say, 154 judges when I was the whip on the floor under his administration.

“We’ve got a record of accomplishment of getting things done for the American people. So, as I’ve said before, I try to be able to work with anybody. We got people who have lots of different points of view in our conference, and part of it is being able to pull it together and effectively get results,” he said.

Cornyn, Thune’s chief rival in the race, also highlighted his collaboration with Trump in a statement announcing his intention to run for Senate Republican leader.

“As the Republican Whip, I helped President Trump advance his agenda through the Senate, including passing historic tax reform and remaking our judiciary — including two Supreme Court justices,” he said Thursday morning.

Cornyn’s office noted the Texas senator has voted with Trump more than 92 percent of the time and endorsed him in the 2024 GOP presidential primary.

A spokesman for Thune confirmed the South Dakota Republican “is reaching out to each of his colleagues directly to discuss the future of the Senate Republican Conference and what they would like to see in their next leader.”

“He looks forward to having substantive conversations over the next few days and week about the future, but he intends on keeping those conversations private,” the spokesman added.

Al Weaver contributed.