WASHINGTON — Republicans have elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the subsequent Senate majority chief, finishing a momentous shift of their management that elevates a high deputy of Mitch McConnell right into a key place as President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White Home.
Thune, 63, is in his fourth Senate time period and has promised to work carefully with Trump, regardless of variations the 2 have had through the years, and will probably be an important a part of the incoming president’s efforts to push via his coverage agenda.
He beat out two different opponents, Sens. John Cornyn and Rick Scott, by gaining majority help from GOP senators in a secret poll vote. Republicans are changing McConnell, the longest serving Senate occasion chief, as they put together to take majority management of the Senate with the 53 seats they received in final week’s elections.
Like McConnell, Thune hails from the Republican Celebration’s extra conventional wing. He has held the Republican whip place — no. 2 in occasion management — since 2019.
At occasions, Thune has countered Trump’s needs for Congress, and he broke publicly with Trump over the trouble to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election, which he referred to as “inexcusable.” However in latest months, Thune has realigned with Trump, visiting him in his Florida house, and the 2 have been consulting on how one can implement the incoming president’s agenda. Thune instructed The Related Press over the summer season that he views their potential relationship as knowledgeable one. In the event that they each win their elections, Thune mentioned, “we’ve acquired a job to do.”
Effectively favored and a revered communicator, Thune has been perceived as a front-runner for a lot of the yr. Because the No. 2 Republican, he took over for McConnell for a number of weeks final yr when he was on a medical go away. He’s additionally a former chair of the Senate Commerce Committee.
Thune’s win is all of the extra extraordinary due to his 2004 election to the Senate – defeating then-Senate Majority Chief Tom Daschle after arguing through the marketing campaign that Daschle had misplaced his South Dakota roots throughout his years in Democratic management. Twenty years later, Thune will grow to be majority chief himself.
As he geared as much as run for chief, Thune spent a lot of the yr campaigning for his colleagues. In accordance with his aides, he raised greater than $31 million to elect Senate Republicans this cycle, together with a $4 million switch from his personal marketing campaign accounts to the Senate’s predominant marketing campaign arm.
This yr, although, Thune and Trump have talked often on the cellphone and Thune visited the then-GOP candidate at his house in Florida.
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