{"version":"1.9","identifier":"4037679b-b912-4dcf-aa32-b0dde83f413c","language":"en-US","title":"No one is running against Thune. So why do Republican senators want to delay his re-election?","layout":{"columns":7,"width":1024,"margin":32,"gutter":20},"componentLayouts":{"text":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"maximumContentWidth":720,"margin":{"top":12,"bottom":12}},"photo":{"columnStart":0,"columnSpan":7,"margin":{"top":20,"bottom":20}}},"componentTextStyles":{"default":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"textColor":"#171717"},"headline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue-Bold","fontSize":36,"lineHeight":42,"conditional":[{"conditions":{"maxViewportWidth":480},"fontSize":28,"lineHeight":34}]},"intro":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":20,"lineHeight":28,"textColor":"#555555"},"caption":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":19,"textColor":"#666666"},"byline":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":13,"lineHeight":20,"textColor":"#666666"},"body":{"fontName":"HelveticaNeue","fontSize":18,"lineHeight":29,"paragraphSpacingAfter":14,"linkStyle":{"textColor":"#00704a"}}},"metadata":{"canonicalURL":"https://567politics.com/news/senate-republican-leadership-election-delay-thune-ron-johnson-mccormick-rick-scott-november-2026","datePublished":"2026-11-09T16:22:33.423278Z","dateModified":"2026-11-09T16:23:13.803228Z","authors":["567 Politics staff"],"excerpt":"Johnson, McCormick and Lee want a post-midterm reckoning before Tuesday's vote; Rick Scott wants a SAVE Act pledge. A 2022 delay bid failed 32-16.","thumbnailURL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/4037679b-b912-4dcf-aa32-b0dde83f413c/5aba7f6560f3181ccd36b1e14e83d261.jpg","keywords":["elections"],"generatorName":"Frog News","generatorVersion":"1.0"},"components":[{"role":"title","text":"No one is running against Thune. So why do Republican senators want to delay his re-election?","textStyle":"headline","layout":"text"},{"role":"intro","text":"Johnson, McCormick and Lee want a post-midterm reckoning before Tuesday's vote; Rick Scott wants a SAVE Act pledge. A 2022 delay bid failed 32-16.","textStyle":"intro","layout":"text"},{"role":"byline","text":"By 567 Politics staff · Published November 9, 2026","textStyle":"byline","layout":"text"},{"role":"photo","URL":"https://pub-fac99da959e344fe99d810d309cef7df.r2.dev/photos/article/4037679b-b912-4dcf-aa32-b0dde83f413c/5aba7f6560f3181ccd36b1e14e83d261.jpg","caption":"Senate Majority Leader John Thune in his official portrait. He is seeking to lead Senate Republicans in the minority from January. · U.S. Senate Photographic Studio (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons","accessibilityCaption":"Senate Majority Leader John Thune in his official portrait. He is seeking to lead Senate Republicans in the minority from January.","layout":"photo"},{"role":"caption","text":"Senate Majority Leader John Thune in his official portrait. He is seeking to lead Senate Republicans in the minority from January. · U.S. Senate Photographic Studio (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons","textStyle":"caption","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Senate Republicans are scheduled to elect their leaders at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Old Senate Chamber, and Majority Leader [John Thune](https://567politics.com/politicians/john-thune) has no declared opponent. Yet a growing group of Republican senators says the vote should not happen yet. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin planned to deliver a letter on Monday with the five signatures needed to force a special conference meeting, [Semafor reported](https://www.semafor.com/article/11/09/2026/senates-post-election-drama-escalates-quickly). Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania joined the call on Sunday night, writing that \"Tuesday is too soon,\" [according to Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/11/09/mccormick-delay-senate-gop-leadership-election-thune).\n\nThe push is not, so far, a challenge to Thune. It is a fight over sequence: whether a conference that just lost its majority should first argue about what went wrong and what it will do in the lame-duck session, or install its leadership team first and argue afterward. The answer will shape how much leverage the party's conservative senators have over Thune before he becomes minority leader in January.\n\n## What the delay camp is asking for\n\nJohnson has framed the request as a matter of basic accountability after a defeat. In a letter he planned to send to Senate Republican Conference Chair Tom Cotton of Arkansas, obtained by the [Washington Examiner](https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/4796082/ron-johnson-delay-senate-gop-leadership-elections/), he called it \"political malpractice\" to move forward with closed-door elections so soon after a \"stunning defeat.\" He told Fox News that \"it's not like we've got to quick-form a majority in the Senate and do all the things with the committees. We have time,\" [as quoted by Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/11/9/which-republicans-are-running-for-minority-leadership-roles-in-congress). \"This is time for reflection. This is time not to just, quick, make a knee-jerk decision.\"\n\nJohnson also made a historical argument on X.\n\n<https://x.com/SenRonJohnson/status/2119068172339068956>\n\nIn that Nov. 7 post, Johnson wrote that \"since 1934, leadership elections have occurred about 40 days after an election,\" and that since 2006 the gap had shortened \"to just nine days.\" 567 Politics has not independently verified those averages. The post's broader point, that recent conferences have voted quickly, is consistent with the 2022 and 2024 calendars described below.\n\nMcCormick, a first-term senator from a swing state, made a narrower case. \"One of the things I learned in business and the Army is that after a failure, you have to start with honesty, transparency, and accountability,\" he wrote, according to Axios. \"We need leadership in place fast, but Tuesday is too soon.\" He said he had raised his concerns directly with Thune and was not asking him to step aside.\n\nSen. [Mike Lee](https://567politics.com/politicians/mike-lee) of Utah has added a practical condition. He wrote that Republicans have \"no business holding Senate Republican leadership elections until: (1) we've had ample opportunity to discuss what happened on Tuesday, and (2) we know who's going to be in our conference,\" according to Al Jazeera. On Nov. 7 he [posted on X](https://x.com/SenMikeLee/status/2119123613987344776) that \"we shouldn't rush back into Senate leadership elections without having some hard, necessary conversations about how we move forward.\"\n\nLee's second point refers to two Senate races that are still uncalled. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom led Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith 49.1% to 48.8%, and in Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola led Sen. Dan Sullivan 48.2% to 47.9%, according to [AP tallies cited by USA Today](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/11/09/mississippi-alaska-senate-elections-live-results/92687638007/). Alaska's ranked-choice tabulation does not begin until Nov. 18 under state law. We have covered both counts in detail, in [Mississippi](https://567politics.com/news/mississippi-senate-colom-hyde-smith-43-votes-affidavit-ballots-no-recount-november-2026) and in [Alaska](https://567politics.com/news/alaska-senate-count-sullivan-leads-peltola-ranked-choice-november-18-measure-2-november-2026). If both incumbents lose, two current Republican senators would vote in an election for a conference they will not belong to.\n\n## Rick Scott's price: the SAVE America Act\n\nSen. [Rick Scott](https://567politics.com/politicians/rick-scott) of Florida, who ran against Thune in 2024 and lost, is tying his support to a specific policy commitment rather than to the calendar.\n\n<https://x.com/SenRickScott/status/2119498995710259564>\n\n\"I've been fighting for over two years to get the SAVE/SAVE America Act, passed in the Senate,\" Scott wrote on Nov. 8. \"We have two months to get it done. Every candidate for a leadership job must commit to passing it. Failure is not an option.\" The bill, which would add proof-of-citizenship requirements to federal voter registration, has not advanced in the Senate, where it lacks the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. [Roll Call](https://rollcall.com/2026/11/04/thune-to-run-for-minority-leader/) described it as legislation that \"never had a chance of passing the chamber,\" and noted that it was a source of friction between Thune and President Trump.\n\nScott said in September that he was not planning to challenge Thune again, according to Roll Call. A demand that \"every candidate\" commit to the bill therefore works as leverage over Thune's agenda for the final weeks of the Republican majority, not as an announced candidacy.\n\n## Thune's case: a record and a fight ahead\n\nThune has not publicly answered the delay request in detail, based on available reporting, and the elections were still scheduled to proceed as of Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by Axios. His case for continuity rests on the record he described on election night. \"Over the last two years, Senate Republicans have put up a strong record of accomplishment that's created safer streets, more money in Americans' pockets, and new opportunities for families and businesses to get ahead,\" he wrote, [as reported by SDPB](https://www.sdpb.org/elections/2026-11-04/thune-says-senate-republicans-wont-stand-idly-by-in-face-of-democrats-new-majority). \"As we head into 2027, Senate Republicans will not stand idly by as the far-left, socialist wing of the Democrat Party attempts to unwind everything we've done.\"\n\nHis allies argue, in effect, that a minority conference needs a settled team immediately. Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is expected to seek his post again, wrote that \"there are clear lessons to be learned from the results\" and that Republicans \"should listen to what voters unmistakably said,\" while adding that \"our focus should not waiver from the top priority of driving down prices,\" Roll Call reported. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia are expected to run again for conference vice chair and policy committee chair.\n\nTrump has stayed formally neutral. \"It's gonna be up to the Republicans. They choose. I don't choose,\" he told reporters on Friday, according to Axios. But he has also blamed the Senate in part for the defeat: \"We had a bad election because of a few things. One thing was not getting things approved in the Senate.\"\n\n## The conference Thune would lead\n\nThe scale of the change explains some of the urgency on both sides. Republicans held 53 seats in the current Congress. Democrats have secured 54 seats for the next one and Republicans 44, with two races uncalled, according to [AP results published by NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-elections/ballot-measures) and USA Today. Our [Senate control race page](https://567politics.com/races/senate-control-2026) tracks the final count.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Senate</th><th>Democrats</th><th>Republicans</th><th>Uncalled</th></tr><tr><td>119th Congress (now)</td><td>47</td><td>53</td><td>–</td></tr><tr><td>120th Congress (Jan. 2027)</td><td>54+</td><td>44+</td><td>2</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"The current figures include independents who caucus with Democrats; the 53–47 split is from [Roll Call's report](https://rollcall.com/2026/11/04/thune-to-run-for-minority-leader/) on Thune's bid. Under current Senate rules, a minority of 41 or more can still block most legislation by filibuster, but nominations need only a simple majority, and the majority sets the floor schedule and runs committees. That makes the minority leader's job mostly about holding a bloc together, which is the very thing the delay group says needs discussion first.\n\nThe [Republican Party's](https://567politics.com/parties/united-states/republican) losses also hit the House, where the conference is choosing between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan for minority leader in its own Tuesday vote, as we reported in [our preview of the House leadership race](https://567politics.com/news/house-republican-leadership-johnson-jordan-scalise-november-10-vote-november-2026).\n\n## The 2022 precedent\n\nSenate Republicans have faced a nearly identical request before, and the conference rejected it. After a disappointing 2022 midterm, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas moved to delay the leadership election until after Georgia's Dec. 6 runoff. The motion failed 32–16, and the conference then re-elected Mitch McConnell over Rick Scott 37–10, with one senator voting present, [Roll Call reported](https://rollcall.com/2022/11/16/mcconnell-prevails-in-senate-gop-leadership-contest/). In 2024, Thune won a three-way race on the second ballot, defeating John Cornyn 29–24 after Scott was eliminated with 13 first-ballot votes, according to the [results compiled from Politico's reporting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Senate_Republican_Conference_leadership_election).\n\n**Recent contested Senate Republican conference votes**\n\nVotes in secret conference ballots as reported. 2022 leader vote also had one \"present.\"","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"},{"role":"htmltable","html":"<table><tr><th>Vote</th><th>Prevailing side</th><th>Losing side</th></tr><tr><td>2022 motion to delay</td><td>32</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>2022 leader: McConnell v. Scott</td><td>37</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>2024 leader, 2nd ballot: Thune v. Cornyn</td><td>29</td><td>24</td></tr></table>","layout":"text"},{"role":"body","format":"markdown","text":"Source: [Roll Call (2022)](https://rollcall.com/2022/11/16/mcconnell-prevails-in-senate-gop-leadership-contest/), [2024 results via Politico, compiled on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Senate_Republican_Conference_leadership_election)\n\nThe 2022 numbers show that the delay motion drew 16 votes, six more than the 10 who backed Scott's challenge to McConnell, which suggests some senators were willing to slow the process without voting against the leader. The difference this year is that there is no challenger, so a delay vote, if one happens, would measure frustration with process rather than support for an alternative.\n\n## What each side's argument gets right, and where it is thin\n\nThe delay camp's strongest point is about information. Two seats remain undecided, and senators who may not return would help choose a leader for a conference they leave in January. Lee's concern on that point is factual, not speculative. Its weaker point is the implied promise that a few more days of discussion will produce a different outcome; no senator has announced a bid, and in 2022 a roughly three-hour conference meeting ended with the incumbent re-elected by a wide margin.\n\nThune's allies' strongest point is practical. The lame-duck session is short, the Senate has nominations and a December government funding deadline to manage, as [NBC News noted](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/live-blog/trump-2026-midterm-elections-senate-house-supreme-court-live-updates-rcna608235), and an unsettled leadership could complicate both. Their weaker point is the suggestion that the calendar itself requires speed; Johnson's observation that the minority need not organize committees in a hurry is accurate on its face.\n\nScott's argument mixes the two questions. Demanding a policy commitment as the price of a leadership vote is a recognizable form of bargaining, but tying it to the SAVE America Act sets a test Thune cannot pass on his own, because the bill needs 60 votes, not just his support. That does not make the demand illegitimate, but it means Thune's answer can only be a promise about effort, not about results.\n\n## How Tuesday could unfold\n\nJohnson's letter, if it reaches Cotton with five signatures, forces a special conference meeting but does not by itself postpone Tuesday's vote, according to Semafor. Any delay would require a vote of the conference. If the elections go ahead, the size of any vote to delay, and whether senators who called for one vote against Thune or simply abstain, will be the clearest early measure of how much room he will have to lead the minority. Senate Democrats will hold their own leadership elections in early December.","textStyle":"body","layout":"text"}]}