Senate Republicans elect John Thune as next majority leader

John Thune, the Republican senator for South Dakota, will become the new Senate majority leader after winning an internal party ballot on Wednesday for the position left vacant by the imminent retirement of Mitch McConnell.

His elevation – following the second round of a vote among Republican senators that was held under secret ballot conditions – propels him into a key role in advancing Donald Trump’s agenda when the president-elect returns to the White House in January.

Thune, currently the Republican whip in the Senate, beat John Cornyn of Texas 25-24 on a second ballot after an initial round that saw the elimination of the Florida senator, Rick Scott, a favourite of Maga conservatives.

The South Dakota senator won the backing of 25 of his GOP colleagues to Conryn’s 15 in the initial ballot, with Scott getting 13 votes.

“I am extremely honoured to have earned the support of my colleagues to lead the Senate in the 119th Congress, and I am beyond proud of the work we have done to secure our majority and the White House,” Thune said in a statement after the vote. “This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today.”

Thune has previously been a critic of Trump and called his role in the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol “inexcusable”. Trump responded by calling him a “Rino” (Republican in name only) and calling for him to face a primary challenge in his 2022 bid for re-election to the Senate.

But the two reconciled, and Thune visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home last March and endorsed his presidential candidacy.

Trump did not endorse any candidate in the election to replace McConnell, with whom he had a frosty relationship and often clashed.

However, some of his most fervent backers – including the entrepreneur Elon Musk, the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk and the broadcaster Tucker Carlson – vocally backed Scott. Kirk, in particular, drew attention to Thune’s past criticism of Trump in social media posts at the weekend.

But the interventions seemed to backfire, with some senators voicing anger at the attempts of outsiders to influence their vote.