Senate Republicans on Tuesday reelected Sen. John Thune as their top leader after rejecting an effort to delay the leadership vote to digest the party’s sweeping election losses and chart a path forward.
Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, ran uncontested, as did the rest of the top GOP leaders. The leaders were reinstated by acclamation.
The big change is that Mr. Thune, Senate Republican, Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton of Arkansas will be serving in the minority next Congress instead of the majority.
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Republicans lost at least seven seats in last week’s midterms. Two races, in Mississippi and Alaska, remain uncalled, but Democrats lead in those as well.
Tuesday’s conference meeting was the first time Senate Republicans have gathered to discuss their defeat and how to regroup.
Some Republicans, led by Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, sought to delay the leadership election so the party could spend more time charting their future, but a majority of the conference rejected the proposed postponement.
“We do need to talk. We do need to have a good conversation on this. But if no one else is actually running for these different positions, then I don’t understand the delay piece on it,” said Sen. James Lankford, Oklahoma Republican, who was reelected as conference vice chair.
West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito was reelected Republican Policy Committee chair.
The only new addition to the six-member GOP leadership is Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, who will chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He ran unopposed and is replacing South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott as head of the GOP’s campaign arm.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, supported the effort to delay the leadership election.
“We need to think about the message that the American people sent,” he said. “I think if you just come right in and we’re here for one day and just reelect everybody and there’s no discussion, what message does that send? That doesn’t sound like we are listening to anything.”
Mr. Hawley said that while no one stepped up to challenge any of the current leaders, delaying the election would give senators time to contemplate who should be in the top spots.
“It’s certainly not going to be me. I have no personal interest in this,” he said. “It’s a bad job.”
Republicans did spend several hours Tuesday discussing their lessons from the midterms before calling the leadership votes.
A major takeaway is they did not spend enough time responding to voters’ concerns about the cost of living.
“We just plowed right ahead like everything was good in the world,” said West Virginia GOP Sen. Jim Justice. “My God, how can we be that tone deaf — I mean, really and truly — and not understand that those folks out there are hurting, and they vote.”
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