WASHINGTON ― Senate Minority Whip John Thune was elected the next Senate Republican leader on Wednesday, multiple outlets have reported, ensuring Sen. Mitch McConnell’s right-hand man will lead the new GOP majority as President-elect Donald Trump begins his second White House term next year.
Thune beat his colleagues John Cornyn of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida in an internal party vote.
A longtime member of the GOP leadership team who was first elected in 2004, Thune, 63, is an establishment figure who is likely to continue McConnell’s focus on confirming judges and advancing a traditional conservative platform: tax cuts, defense spending and deregulation.
The mild-mannered South Dakotan recently made efforts to patch up what has been a complicated relationship with Trump. In 2020, he rebuked Trump for seeking to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. And in 2016, the senator called on Trump to quit his bid for the White House after the release of the infamous…
