Thune To Trump: Stay Out Of Senate Leadership Fight

The Hill reports:

Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.) is urging President-elect Trump not to put his thumb on the scale in the race to elect a successor to outgoing Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), putting a new wrinkle in the high-stakes contest.

Thune in recent days has declared his preference that Trump give Republican senators space to make their own decision about who should lead the new Senate GOP majority, arguing it would be in Trump’s “best interests” to stay neutral.

Allies of Thune’s two rivals in the leadership race, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), say that calls for Trump to stay out of the leadership race indicate that Thune is nervous that the president-elect would endorse either Cornyn or Scott — which would be a serious setback.

Read the full article.

Thune on if Trump should get involved in leadership race. “I think my preference would be and I think it’s probably in his best interest to stay out of that. These Senate secret-ballot elections are probably best left to the senators, and he’s got to work with all of us” pic.twitter.com/POrJujA1h7

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 7, 2024