Senate Republicans have re-elected John Thune to lead their conference, choosing continuity over a shake-up a week after midterm losses cost the party its majority in both chambers of Congress. The South Dakota senator was returned to the job by acclamation on Tuesday, after a tense day of closed-door meetings in which some colleagues had pressed to delay the vote until the party could reckon with its sweeping defeat.
Mr Thune, 65, ran unopposed and drew no votes against him, according to his spokesman. The rest of the leadership team was also returned, including Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming and Conference Chair Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Before the leadership vote, senators rejected a move to postpone the contest by 31 votes to 15, a margin that showed the depth of support for Mr Thune even among colleagues who had spent the day venting their frustration.
The vote came after an election that party strategists have described as a rout. Republicans went into the midterms with a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but lost at least seven seats, with Democrats flipping Republican-held seats in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Democrats also flipped at least 44 seats in the House and are on track to hold at least 54 Senate seats when the new Congress convenes on 3 January. Two Senate races, in Alaska and Mississippi, remain uncalled and could deplete Republican numbers further.
Mr Thune will now lead a minority of no more than 46 senators in the 120th Congress, a sharp reversal from the majority he has led since January 2025, when he succeeded Mitch McConnell as Republican leader. "I appreciate the opportunity to have an open, honest, and transparent conversation with my colleagues today, and I am honored to have their continued trust and support to lead the Senate Republican Conference in the 120th Congress," he said in a statement after the vote.
The leadership contest had been shadowed by discontent. Some senators, led by Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, had argued that the conference should delay its elections until it had properly assessed what went wrong. Others were unhappy with Mr Thune's handling of President Donald Trump's agenda, in particular his failure to pass the sweeping SAVE America Act designed to tighten election rules nationwide, which drew public criticism from Mr Trump over several months. There were also complaints that the party had no clear message on the economy, an issue that exit polls suggested mattered most to voters.
In the end, no alternative candidate emerged. Mr Thune is popular with his colleagues, and the senators who had pushed for a delay conceded that there was no obvious successor waiting in the wings. "We're going to make the most of the time we've got," Mr Thune told reporters after the vote, referring to the final two months in which Republicans still hold the majority and can try to advance what remains of their legislative programme.
The contrast with the House was striking. There, Republicans appointed a more firebrand figure to lead them after their own crushing losses, while in the Senate the party opted for the steady hand it already had. The difference reflects the two chambers' characters — the Senate prizes seniority and institutional memory — but it also suggests that Senate Republicans believe their problem is not their leader but the political environment, and that a change at the top would not have changed the result.
Mr Thune's task now is a difficult one. As minority leader, he will have to manage a smaller, more restive conference, negotiate with a Democratic majority that has its own internal divisions, and deal with a lame-duck president entering the final stretch of his second term. He has already spoken with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer about working together, and Democrats are expected to hold their own leadership elections in early December.
The midterm results have also reshaped the balance of power inside the Republican Party. Mr Trump, who acknowledged the sweeping defeat in interviews after the election, has in recent days questioned the results and returned to unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, even as election officials across the country have raised no major concerns about the conduct of the vote. Mr Thune, who has worked closely with Mr Trump on much of his second-term agenda, including the massive budget bill, will have to navigate a president who is both diminished and unpredictable.
For now, the Senate Republicans have decided that their best course is to stay the course. Whether that judgement holds will become clear in January, when the new Congress takes its seats and the party has to decide what it stands for in opposition. Mr Thune has survived the first test of the post-midterm reckoning; the harder tests, over strategy, messaging and the future direction of the party, are still to come.
