GOP Senate Majority Leader Election Process

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell’s potential successors have been crisscrossing the country, cozying up to former President Donald Trump and barnstorming key battleground states in the final days of the election to help their party win back the Senate — and help themselves, too.

Sen. John Cornyn and Senate GOP Whip John Thune, the two top candidates to succeed McConnell, have been pouring millions into GOP candidates’ campaign accounts and stumping for them on the trail — part of an effort to lock up support when the secret-ballot leadership election takes place on November 13. GOP senators and top aides say the race could go either way.

A major wild card hanging over the race: The fallout from the presidential election that takes place the week before and the role that Trump will play in trying to anoint a leader if he wins. ...

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What the hell is going on in the US Senate? Hours after Donald Trump wins the most conclusive mandate in 40 years, Mitch McConnell engineers a coup against his agenda by calling early leadership elections in the senate. Two of the three candidates hate Trump and what he ran on. One of them, John Cornyn, is an angry liberal whose politics are indistinguishable from Liz Cheney’s. The election is Wednesday, it’s by secret ballot, and it will determine whether or not the new administration succeeds. Rick Scott of Florida is the only candidate who agrees with Donald Trump. Call your senator and demand a public endorsement of Rick Scott. Don’t let McConnell get away with it again.

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The first round of balloting ended in votes of 23 for Thune, 15 for Cornyn and 13 for Scott, resulting in Scott getting eliminated, two sources with direct knowledge of the vote said. The race came down to Thune and Cornyn on the second ballot, and Thune won by a vote of 29 to 24, three sources told NBC News.
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