GOP senators meet today to vote on McConnell's successor as majority leader

Republican senators will gather behind closed doors Wednesday to decide who will replace longtime Senate leader Mitch McConnell and lead their new majority next year — a decision that could shape the future of the Senate, and the party, as Donald Trump reclaims the presidency.

It's the first competitive election for Republican leader in three decades. McConnell was uncontested when he first became party leader in 2007.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have been scrambling to win the most votes in the secret ballot election, promising a new direction in the Senate even as they furiously compete for Trump’s favor. It will be the first test of Trump’s relationship with Congress after he won the election decisively and claimed a mandate for his agenda.

It’s uncertain who will win. Thune and Cornyn have campaigned mostly within the Senate, working senators individually and privately and raising millions of dollars for Senate GOP candidates. Both quickly mobilized in March after McConnell announced he would step aside from leadership.

Scott has run a campaign outside of the Senate, campaigning publicly as the candidate closest to Trump and winning endorsements from people who are close to the former and future president. Scott received an outpouring of support on X over the weekend as Trump allies, including Elon Musk, pushed his bid.

Both Cornyn and Thune have drawn closer to Trump in recent months. The two longtime senators are both viewed by their colleagues as institutionalists more in the mold of McConnell, while Scott has worked to gather support outside of the Senate, and within Trump’s inner circle, to pressure an overhaul within.

To select the new leader, Senate Republicans will meet privately in a ceremonial space in the Capitol for several hours to hear the candidates make their case. Few aides are allowed in. The contenders will each be introduced and nominated by two other senators, and then they make a speech of their own. Ballots are cast secretly. If no one wins a majority on the first ballot, they proceed to a second round, and so on, until someone wins a majority of the vote.



(AP Photo J. Scott Applewhite)