Thune Tells Democrats "Republicans Are Ready To Work With You" - Then Draws The Line
Senate Republicans kept John Thune as their leader on Tuesday, brushing aside a push by seven GOP senators to delay the vote a day after Thune went to the floor and told incoming Democrats that "Republicans are ready to work with you."
Thune will lead from the minority after Democrats flipped seven Republican-held seats on Nov. 3 (Maine, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, South Carolina and Kansas) and will hold at least 54 when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3, according to CBS News. Two more seats are still being counted. Democrat Scott Colom led Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi by about 2,500 votes as of Nov. 6, with certification due Nov. 13, and the Alaska result may not be known for weeks.
In his first floor remarks since the election, on Monday, Thune conceded that "Tuesday night was a tough election night. It was certainly not the outcome that we had hoped for. But it was the outcome the American people chose." "Inflation is still too high, and just going to the grocery store can take a huge chunk out of a family's budget," he said, calling the result "a clear message that this coming Congress needs to double down on the work that we've been doing on affordability."
"I want to say to my Democrat colleagues - new and old - that Republicans are ready to work with you to address the American people's concerns," Thune said, adding that "we can notch our first bipartisan win for the American people before the new Congress even starts" by passing permitting reform. That vote came Monday evening: as we reported, the Senate voted 73-25 to open debate on the permitting overhaul, with 21 Democrats and one independent joining 51 Republicans. Final passage is likely to slip past the Veterans Day break.
"Republicans are ready and willing to work with our Democrat colleagues. But that does not mean rubberstamping a leftist agenda," Thune went on, ruling out any help for Democratic attempts to "dismantle the tax relief that we passed" or "reinstate the chaos that existed at the border under the Biden administration." Of the election, he said: "It was not - it was not - a mandate for radical policy and socialist fantasies." He vowed to "emphatically oppose" Democrats and "any attempt to balloon the size of government or tear down American institutions, as the Democratic Socialists would like to do."
While Republicans are prepared to work in a bipartisan way, we will also emphatically oppose Democrats when required to protect hardworking Americans and our system of government. The election wasn't a mandate for radical policy and socialist fantasies, and I hope Democrats... pic.twitter.com/ikK1KIG2yq
— Leader John Thune (@LeaderJohnThune) November 9, 2026
Chuck Schumer, in line to become majority leader, said the day after the election that if President Trump defies "the will of the American people or the law," "we will launch investigations, take him to court, and entangle him in legislative razor wire." He has also vowed not to let Trump put a "right-winger" on the Supreme Court. Not every newcomer is on board: Kansas Senator-elect Adam Hamilton has said he doesn't want to spend the coming years on investigations or impeachment. Senate Democrats pick their leaders on Nov. 18.
On the Republican side, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) gathered the five signatures needed to force a conference meeting on postponing today's vote, from Sens. John Kennedy, Ted Budd, Rick Scott and Mike Lee, as we reported. Sens. Dave McCormick and Jim Banks backed a delay without signing. "An election defeat of this magnitude demands change," Johnson said, and he warned: "If you hold the election, I'll leave the room."
— Senator Dave McCormick (@SenMcCormickPA) November 9, 2026
However, after a closed-door meeting in the Old Senate Chamber, the push for a delay fell short and Republicans backed Thune by acclamation, with no one running against him. Johnson made good on his threat and walked out of the room as the voting began, the Associated Press reported, conceding there was no one else on the ballot: "who would want the job?" He insisted "this has never been anything against John Thune," who he said "has been very unfairly attacked by our base." John Barrasso stays on as whip.
"I am honored to have their continued trust and support to lead the Senate Republican Conference," Thune said in a statement. He first won the job in November 2024, beating John Cornyn 29-24 on a second ballot to succeed Mitch McConnell.
President Trump spent this year leaning on Thune to kill it so Republicans could pass the SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill, according to Semafor. Come January, the filibuster Trump wanted gone is the main tool Thune will have to "emphatically oppose" the new Democratic majority.