Senate Republicans will make a game-time decision on whether to delay their leadership elections scheduled for Tuesday, as some in the conference request additional time to discuss the party’s future after their midterm drubbing.
Senate Republican Leader John Thune of South Dakota, who is running unopposed to remain in the top spot, said he will leave the decision to the conference.
“We need to have a very fulsome, robust conversation about where we go from here, and then we’ll see what the consensus of the conference is,” he said.
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Mr. Thune said he is not sure postponing the leadership election solves anything, but he is open to hearing arguments from Republicans who have asked for the delay.
No Republican senator has announced plans to challenge Mr. Thune or any other current member of the GOP leadership team.
Tuesday’s meeting for the leadership election is the first time the Senate Republican Conference will have met as a group since the midterms, in which the GOP lost at least seven seats to Democrats, with two races still uncalled.
Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, sent a letter Monday to Conference Chairman Tom Cotton asking him to postpone the leadership election.
The election should wait “until we all have a chance to hear from leadership candidates as to what type of collaborative conference governing model we should adopt and what our strategy will be to counter the emboldened Democrats,” Mr. Johnson said.
The letter was cosigned by Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Budd of North Carolina, John Kennedy of Louisiana and Rick Scott of Florida.
“Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice,” the senators said. “It is certainly not the way leadership elections should be conducted in the world’s greatest deliberative body.”
They said Republicans need to have “fulsome” and “serious” discussions about their “stunning defeat” in the midterm elections and what the party can do to improve prospects in 2028.
Republican Sens. David McCormick of Pennsylvania and Jim Banks of Indiana did not sign the letter but separately issued statements supporting the call for a delay in the leadership election.
“I don’t believe we should move to leadership elections until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward,” Mr. McCormick said. “We need leadership in place fast, but Tuesday is too soon.”
Mr. Banks also used the “too soon” phrasing in his statement, saying before the leadership election Republicans need to “have a frank conversation about where we fell short, what we stand for and what we’re going to do for the working families who sent us here.”
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