Thune clinches secret ballot victory to become new Senate GOP leader, succeeding McConnell

FOX NEWS

Senate Minority Whip John Thune will be the new Republican Senate leader and the majority leader of the upper chamber in the new Congress.

In January, he will succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who is the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

Sources told Fox News Digital that no candidate reached a majority during the first secret ballot in the old Senate chamber on Wednesday morning. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., received the least amount of votes and was knocked out of the race. The second secret ballot was between only Thune and Cornyn.

Thune received 29 votes and Cornyn got 24 on the second ballot, according to Thune’s office.

Each of the candidates made a final pitch to their fellow Republican senators late Tuesday night during a forum held by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

Scott walked out of the meeting with two new public endorsements from both Lee and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. A source familiar told Fox News Digital that Blackburn had asked multiple questions during the discussion, including “how they would give conservatives a more meaningful voice in the Senate and for specific details as to how they would immediately implement President Trump’s mass deportation operation.”