Senate Republicans on Wednesday elected South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who has a deep background in agriculture and trade policy, as the chamber's next majority leader.
Thune is a longtime member of the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Finance Committee, which handles tax and trade policy, and currently holds the No. 2 GOP role as minority whip. He defeated Texas Sen. John Cornyn 29-24 on the second ballot to succeed Mitch McConnell, who has been the Senate’s GOP leader since 2007.
A third candidate, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, was eliminated in the first ballot despite the backing of several MAGA-influencers, including Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“We have a mandate from the American people, a mandate to not only clean up the mess left by the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda, but also to deliver on President Trump’s priorities,” Thune said in a press conference following the election.
Thune highlighted Trump’s agenda on immigration, restoring domestic energy dominance and potentially overturning Biden-era regulations.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., who didn’t publicly endorse anyone ahead of the elections, also declined to reveal who he voted for in the two secret ballots.
“I think we had three really good guys running,” Boozman said. “It's time to come together as a team, and I think everybody's really committed to doing that.”
Boozman said he has not had the chance to meet with Thune, but moving toward getting a farm bill passed is “top of the agenda.”
President-elect Donald Trump didn’t get take a public position in the race but had called on the candidates to commit to bypassing the Senate confirmation process to allow recess appointments of his picks for administration positions.
Republicans won control of the Senate in the Nov. 5 elections, raising the stakes for Trump in the Senate leadership race.
While Thune has been at odds with Trump in the past and initially endorsed Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., for the presidency, he has since worked to mend his relationship with Trump and has touted recent communications with the president-elect. Still, last week Thune urged Trump to stay out of the party leadership race.
In a recent Fox News op-ed, Thune said the Senate must be prepared to advance Trump’s legislative agenda and ensure the president-elect can “hit the ground running with his appointees confirmed as soon as possible.” He also vowed to ensure the Senate calendar allows for a speedy confirmation process.
Thune has been involved in writing several farm bills and is a “champion” of conservation title programs like the Conservation Stewardship Program and Conservation Reserve Program, said Lynn Tjeerdsma, a former adviser to Thune on farm policy.
“I expect him as leader to be great negotiator and working for the good of everybody, and not just be totally partisan and try to work the political benefit,” Tjeerdsma said.
Tjeerdsma said Thune "has a greater in-depth knowledge of ag issues than most other legislators and has always been willing to fight for programs that effectively and economically keep farmers and ranchers on their farms and provide a safe and bountiful food supply,”
Scott VanderWal, president of the South Dakota Farm Bureau, said Thune understands the history of the farm bill, and the importance of each title, and is therefore an important person to have at the helm of the Senate.
“As we get a Congress that is more urban all the time, there are fewer people that understand agriculture intimately, and a person like Sen. Thune is even more important in cases like that,” VanderWal said.
Doug Sombke, president of the South Dakota Farmers Union, said Thune as leader would be good for the state but the entire Midwest agriculture landscape. Specifically, he said Thune would represent these interests and prioritize passing a farm bill.
Ironically, Thune won election to the Senate in 2004 by ousting then-Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
Mike Johanns, who served as agriculture secretary under former President George W. Bush before serving one term in the Senate, said in an interview before the leadership election that both Thune and Cornyn were knowledgeable and capable from an agriculture standpoint.
The two represent different regional agricultural focuses but were reliable resources Johanns could touch base with as agriculture secretary, Johanns said.
“The fact that they might be running to lead the Senate doesn't mean they're going to forget about agriculture, because their constituency is ag-based,” Johanns said. “They're just significant players when it comes to agriculture.”
During the leader elections, the party also selected Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., as the new majority whip, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., as Republican conference chair, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.V., as Republican policy chair, Sen. James Lankford, R-Ok., as conference vice chair, and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., as NRSC chair.
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