Senate Republicans are scheduled to hold their leadership elections tomorrow morning, but a growing number of GOP senators are calling for a delay to discuss how contenders plan to lead in the wake of historic losses among their ranks.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., wrote in a letter he plans to send today to Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton, R-Ark., that senators should meet tomorrow morning instead to hear “what type of collaborative conference governing model we should adopt and what our strategy will be to counter the emboldened Democrats.”
“Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice,” Johnson wrote. “It is certainly not the way leadership elections should be conducted in the world’s greatest deliberative body.”
Johnson’s office said the letter has five Republicans’ signatures. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said on X that his is one of them, and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., agreed that holding leadership elections tomorrow would be too soon.
“As I’ve shared with Leader Thune, 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,” McCormick said.
The call to delay leadership elections is not unprecedented. Similar calls were made two years ago by Republicans trying to block Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., from becoming majority leader following Sen. Mitch McConnell’s exit. That delay effort ultimately failed despite a challenge to Thune from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
It’s not clear whether anyone is challenging the current slate of leaders, as no one has declared their candidacy to unseat Thune or other leaders.
Leadership elections take place behind closed doors with a secret ballot, with the winner needing only a simple majority of the conference to be elected.
