John Thune, other leaders re-elected to represent Senate Republicans in minority

Senate Republicans on Tuesday re-elected John Thune of South Dakota to lead them in the upper chamber’s minority, failing to make any changes to their top leadership slate after their midterm rout.

Republicans met behind closed doors and, by secret ballot, endorsed Thune, as well as threw their weight behind Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., as minority whip; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., as GOP conference chair; Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., as policy committee chair; and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., as GOP conference vice chair, Cotton announced.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, will become the new chair of the Senate GOP’s fundraising arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, replacing Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., according to Cotton’s announcement.

“What we’ve learned is what the American people want, and [what] we’re going to be the absolute savages on is ending any corruption throughout all of government,” Moreno said. “Like in my particular case, I sold all my businesses sold all my stocks before I ran in a primary, so there’s never going to be anybody who questions my motivation on a vote. So the anti-corruption has got to go to every elected official. That’s number one.”

“What we’ve learned is what the American people want, and [what] we’re going to be the absolute savages on is ending any corruption throughout all of government.”

Incoming National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio

About eight Republicans, including Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., had called for a delay in the leadership elections. Republicans are working to get their bearings after big defeats up and down the ballot in last week’s midterm elections, including the loss of at least seven Senate seats in largely red states.

“We didn’t even have a vote. It was just acclamation,” Hawley said about the leadership elections. “I hope that now that the decisions [were] made on leadership that we’ll actually have an agenda for working people.”

On the other side of the Capitol, House Republicans elected Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a Trump ally and current chair of the House Judiciary Committee, as their minority leader for the new Congress.

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