Senate Republicans have re-elected John Thune as their leader, tapping the South Dakota senator for a second two-year term on Tuesday despite the party’s heavy losses in last week’s midterm elections.
Thune, 65, drew no opposition and was elected by acclamation, with no ballots cast against him, according to his spokesman. Before choosing a leader, the conference voted 31–15 to press ahead with the election rather than postpone it, after hours of closed-door meetings that stretched across the day.
Thune has led Senate Republicans since January 2025, when he succeeded longtime leader Mitch McConnell. He will now lead the party as minority leader when the new Congress convenes on 3 January, after Democrats flipped at least seven Republican-held seats in the midterms and took control of the chamber.
A smaller, harder job ahead
Republicans will hold a minority of no more than 46 seats in the next Senate. Democrats flipped seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, while two further races, in Alaska and Mississippi, remained uncalled when the leadership vote took place.
Thune had made clear before the meeting that he wanted a full and frank discussion about the party’s future, telling colleagues they would have a robust conversation about where to go from here and then see what the consensus was. Senators emerged from the morning session after two hours with no resolution, and the conference reconvened in the afternoon before finally re-electing him.
President Donald Trump, who hosted Thune and his family at the White House in October, called him a very fine man on Monday, while adding that the choice was up to the Senate. Thune has spent much of his first two years as leader navigating a sometimes difficult relationship with the president, who has often been at odds with the chamber.
No senator publicly challenged Thune for the post, and he remains popular among his colleagues. His task now is to hold together a diminished minority and rebuild after an election that cost his party control of both chambers of Congress.
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