House and Senate Republicans are set to vote for new leaders on Tuesday morning. The elections come right after the party suffered heavy losses in last week’s midterm elections. Senate Majority Leader John Thune is running to keep his spot as the top Republican. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is facing a challenge from Rep. Jim Jordan for the minority leader role.
Current House Speaker Mike Johnson will not seek a leadership position once his party loses control. He decided to step down after the election results came in. The New York Post reported that both Scalise and Jordan are working hard to win over new lawmakers. Scalise has been in a top leadership role since 2014 and touts his experience. Jordan has positioned himself as a fighter who can handle tough investigations.
The winner only needs a simple majority of 88 votes to take the top House spot. This number comes from the total of 175 Republicans expected to serve in the next Congress. The race for Minority Whip is also set between Tom Emmer and August Pfluger. Democrats will hold their own leadership elections later this week to choose their next Speaker.
Not everyone agrees with holding these votes so soon after the bad election results. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin urged his colleagues to wait and reflect on what went wrong. He told Scripps News, “I’m not going to participate in an election that’s held that early.” Johnson drew support from other senators who usually do not clash with party leaders.
Despite these calls to pause, the Senate GOP Conference appears ready to move forward with the vote. The group will meet Tuesday morning to reflect on the election before voting. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Monday, “It was a tough election for us. And I think we need to internalize the message that the voters are sending and rebuild and get ready to get out there and do things better.” He added, “We lost a lot of good Republicans.”
President Trump did not take a strong side on whether Thune should keep his job. He called Thune a “very fine man” during a Monday press briefing at the White House. Trump told reporters, “I wish they could get more produced.” He also said, “But John’s a good man. I guess they’re going to be voting tomorrow. Or maybe it’s delayed. I don’t know what the status is, but, you know, he’s a friend of mine.”
The Senate Democrats flipped the chamber by securing 54 seats.
