WASHINGTON — Republican senators will meet behind closed doors on Wednesday to decide who will replace the longtime Senate leader Mitch McConnell and lead their new majority next year — a decision that could shape the future of the Senate and the party Donald Trump demands the presidency back.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Rick Scott of Florida tried their best to win the most votes in the secret ballot, promising a new direction for the future. Senate even as they furiously compete for Trump’s favor. It will be the first test for Trump’s relationship with Congress after he decisively won the election and claimed a mandate for his agenda.
It is uncertain who will win.
Thune and Cornyn have campaigned primarily within the Senate, targeting senators individually and privately and raising millions of dollars for Republican Senate candidates. Both acted quickly in March after McConnell announced he would relinquish leadership.
Scott has waged an insurgent campaign outside the Senate, publicly campaigning as the candidate closest to Trump and drawing support from people close to the former and future president. Scott received an outpouring of support for X this weekend as Trump allies, including Elon Musk, tightened his bid.
Which senators choose, and whether Trump ultimately endorses a nominee in the final hours, could set the tone for Trump’s efforts to gain control of the legislature during his second presidency. His relationship with McConnell was tense during his first term, and Trump was often frustrated that lawmakers would not fully submit to his will.
Both Cornyn and Thune have grown closer to Trump in recent months after criticizing him as he tried to do so overturning his 2020 election defeat. But the two longtime senators are both seen by their colleagues as institutionalists, more in the mold of McConnell, while Scott has worked to rally support outside the Senate, and within Trump’s inner circle, to press for reform inside.
“We got a mandate a week ago that people want change,” Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, who is endorsing Scott, said as he walked into a forum for the candidates Tuesday evening. “They want President Trump to have more leeway. than last time. He was a bit stuck.”
Tuberville said whoever is elected, he wants to make sure Trump “feels good about it.”
Regardless of who wins, all three senators have shown that they will view the new president as the leader of the party and that they are willing to relinquish some of the Senate’s power to do so.
When Trump posted that on X Sunday the new leader “must agree” To allow him to appoint Cabinet members and others when the Senate is in recess, thus avoiding confirmation votes, all three quickly signaled they were open to the idea.
To select the new leader, Senate Republicans will meet privately for several hours in a ceremonial room in the Capitol to hear the candidates argue. Very few assistants are admitted. The contenders are each introduced and nominated by two other senators, and then give their own speeches. Voting is done in secret. If no one gets a majority on the first ballot, they move on to a second round, and so on, until someone gets a majority of votes.
The clubby contest is in stark contrast to the House of Representatives, where lawmakers publicly announce their vote for speaker in House of Representatives elections.
And aside from Scott’s challenge to McConnell two years ago, in which he won 10 votes, this is the first competitive election for the Republican leader in three decades. McConnell, who has been a force for the party but has repeatedly fallen out with Trump, was unchallenged when he first became party leader in 2007.
Unlike most previous elections, there is no clear frontrunner in the elections. Because senators cast secret ballots, the majority does not want to say who they are voting for. And some may never tell.
“It’s a secret ballot and it’s a secret ballot for a reason,” said Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who said early on he would support his colleague Thune in his home state. “Each member will choose the leader they think they can best work with during this two-year period.”
Rounds said he prefers the way Thune and Cornyn “handled it one-on-one with everyone,” but that he has also spoken to Scott. “We have three qualified individuals,” he said.
One thing all the candidates agree on is the change from McConnell, who had the most say as leader — a key demand of the caucus’s far-right faction, which disagreed with McConnell on aid to Ukraine and increasingly turned against him as he feuded with Trump. .
Thune, Scott and Cornyn said they would like to see more opportunities for individual senators to bring bills to the floor and offer amendments, and they have pledged to be better communicators within the conference than the often reserved McConnell. At Tuesday night’s forum, the three agreed on many of the issues discussed, according to senators leaving the meeting.
Thune, McConnell’s current No. 2, is seen by colleagues as something of an incumbent, having taken over for several weeks last year when McConnell was absent for medical reasons. He is well-liked among his fellow senators and was for some time seen as the frontrunner in the race. But Cornyn, who was McConnell’s No. 2 before Thune, is also well-liked and has secured some pledges from colleagues.
Thune and Cornyn are similar in terms of policy; they generally vote in lockstep with the conference, but sometimes work with Democrats. Cornyn has been a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee for many years leadership role on bipartisan gun legislation two years ago. Thune worked across the aisle as the former chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
The two differ on whether the leader should be term-limited – a key demand by some in the conservative wing. Cornyn has pushed boundaries, while Thune has not.
Scott, the former governor of Florida, was elected in 2018 and quickly positioned himself as an enemy of McConnell. Running against him for leader in 2022, he joined Utah Senator Mike Lee and others who have been highly critical of the current leadership. While Thune and Cornyn spent the year courting their colleagues, Scott spent most of the year in his own re-election race. He handily defeated Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by more than 10 points.
Scott has campaigned on his business experience. He said Tuesday night that the pitch boils down to: “I support Donald Trump’s agenda. He has a mandate.”
In Wednesday’s elections, the elected senators who gave Republicans the majority next year will also vote, even though they have not yet been sworn in. Republican Bernie Moreno, who defeated Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, attended the forum Tuesday night and said afterward there was “incredible energy” in the room.
Still, he said he has not yet decided who he will vote for. “We have three great candidates who should get us where we want to go,” he said.