U.S. Senate See Full Big Line

(D) J. Hickenlooper*

(R) Somebody

80%

20%

(D) Joe Neguse

(D) Phil Weiser

(D) Jena Griswold

60%

60%

40%↓

Att. General See Full Big Line

(D) M. Dougherty

(D) Alexis King

(D) Brian Mason

40%

40%

30%

Sec. of State See Full Big Line

(D) George Stern

(D) A. Gonzalez

(R) Sheri Davis

40%

40%

30%

State Treasurer See Full Big Line

(D) Brianna Titone

(R) Kevin Grantham

(D) Jerry DiTullio

60%

30%

20%

CO-01 (Denver) See Full Big Line

(D) Diana DeGette*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-02 (Boulder-ish) See Full Big Line

(D) Joe Neguse*

(R) Somebody

90%

2%

CO-03 (West & Southern CO) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Hurd*

(D) Somebody

80%

40%

CO-04 (Northeast-ish Colorado) See Full Big Line

(R) Lauren Boebert*

(D) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-05 (Colorado Springs) See Full Big Line

(R) Jeff Crank*

(D) Somebody

80%

20%

CO-06 (Aurora) See Full Big Line

(D) Jason Crow*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-07 (Jefferson County) See Full Big Line

(D) B. Pettersen*

(R) Somebody

90%

10%

CO-08 (Northern Colo.) See Full Big Line

(R) Gabe Evans*

(D) Yadira Caraveo

(D) Joe Salazar

50%

40%

40%

State Senate Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

80%

20%

State House Majority See Full Big Line

DEMOCRATS

REPUBLICANS

95%

5%

Generic selectors
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Post Type Selectors
November 13, 2024 12:04 PM UTC

Sen. John Thune Wins Majority Leader Post In Notable Snub To MAGA

  • 3 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
Sen. John Thune (R-SD) official thirst trap photo.

As USA TODAY reports, Senate Republicans today elected GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to serve as the next Senate majority leader, replacing Sen. Mitch McConnell to lead the upper chamber for the first two years of the second Donald Trump administration:

Thune won in a secret-ballot vote of 29-24, beating out opposing candidates Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Rick Scott, R-Fla.

The 63-year-old Thune will succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has led his chamber’s Republicans since 2007 and is the longest-serving Senate party leader in U.S. history…

The choice of Sen. Thune over the MAGA movement favorite Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, whose bid for the post pretty much solely consisted of obsequiously brown-nosing the President-re-elect, is a sign that Trump’s control over what could be a trifecta of Republican power in the White House and Congress is not absolute–and the GOP-controlled Senate under Thune may be less inclined to rubber-stamp Trump’s otherwise unfettered agenda.

That’s why so many of the MAGA stakeholders with the ear of the incoming President made it clear that they did not want Thune for the job:

After Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, Thune was among the many senators of both parties who condemned the rioters and opposed Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Trump then called for someone to challenge Thune in his 2022 primary, but no one emerged, and Thune prevailed.

Thune initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., in the 2024 GOP primary, but later supported Trump after Scott dropped out of the race for the White House.

Former Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams.

While by no means a “Never Trumper” after working hard to mend fences with Trump this year, the selection of Thune is nonetheless being hailed as a small victory for sanity and a potential check on Trump’s far-reaching designs to permanently reshape the federal government from the ground up. Thune appears to have failed the first test of that independence, pre-emptively giving in to Trump’s demand to have his Cabinet appointed via recess appointments instead of the normal confirmation process and vote by the full chamber. But that could change if Thune decides to grow a spine, and there will be many more tests.

One local political talking head who might have insight on how Thune intends to run the U.S. Senate in the Trump 2.0 era is former Colorado Republican Party chairman Dick Wadhams. Wadhams, who declared last spring he would not vote for Donald Trump, was Thune’s campaign manager during his successful 2004 bid to unseat former Sen. Tom Daschle–one of Wadhams’ last big wins before a string of defeats here in Colorado and disaffection with the direction of the state GOP robbed him of his star power. Expect Wadhams like Thune to watch what they say early on, but if this partnership frays in the same manner as Trump and Mitch McConnell’s did we may see it first between the lines in Wadhams’ opinion columns.

Republicans may have won big last week, but here is an early sign of cracks in the MAGA monolith.

Comments

3 thoughts on “Sen. John Thune Wins Majority Leader Post In Notable Snub To MAGA

  1. As of today, Nov. 13, the House Freedom Caucus is back again to feuding with other House Rs. I doubt Congress will be the total rubber stamp that the Trumpists expect. After all, Trump is a lame duck president beginning January 20.

  2. The giant question is do they approve Hegseth for Sec of Defense. The guy is incredibly unqualified for the post. It's one of the 4 top appointments Trump makes. So if they're going to tell him no, it's this one.

    Will they?

    1. Gaetz doesn't get confirmed, but I fear Hegseth will, with grave consequences.  A pro-war criminal, anti-woman, ex-Guantanamo thug has no business being anywhere in government let alone heading DoD.  Dark days.  And then there's Putin/Assad stooge Gabbard.  

Leave a Comment

Recent Comments


Posts about

Donald Trump
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Lauren Boebert
SEE MORE

Posts about

Rep. Yadira Caraveo
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado House
SEE MORE

Posts about

Colorado Senate
SEE MORE

47 readers online now

Newsletter

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter to stay in the loop with regular updates!