Washington — Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected Sen. John Thune as chief, anointing a brand new customary bearer to switch Mitch McConnell on the occasion’s helm within the higher chamber.
The South Dakota Republican is about to steer the Senate as majority chief within the new Congress, after Republicans flipped the chamber within the 2024 elections.
Who’s John Thune?
Thune, 63, at present serves because the GOP whip, the No. 2 Republican function. With an extended historical past in management, he chaired the Senate Republican Coverage Committee from 2009 to 2011, and served as convention chair from 2012 to 2018.
The South Dakota Republican was first elected to the Senate in 2004, after representing South Dakota within the Home. Earlier than coming to Congress, Thune served within the Small Enterprise Administration below former President Ronald Reagan and as government director of the South Dakota Republican Celebration.
Anna Moneymaker / Getty Photos
Thune is effectively revered within the convention and seen as a pacesetter able to taking the reins lengthy held by McConnell.
Thune’s historical past with Trump
The South Dakota Republican hasn’t all the time had a robust relationship with the president-elect, and was important of his efforts to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 election, and the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Thune initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina within the Republican presidential primaries.
However Thune has labored to fix the connection in latest months, and pledged within the leadup to the management race to work with the president-elect to advance his priorities.
“As Congress returns to Washington, we should put together the Senate to advance President Trump’s agenda legislatively and be certain that the president-elect can hit the bottom working together with his appointees confirmed as quickly as attainable,” Thune stated in a publish on X on Tuesday.
