Arizona and Nevada are still counting votes, but the 53-member Senate Republican Conference is getting ready for its takeover of the majority. The new party in control is set to vote next Wednesday to elect its next leader because the longest-serving Republican Senate leader on record, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will step aside. Three senators are vying to replace him: Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Rick Scott (R-FL), and John Thune (R-SD).
Either Cornyn or Thune would be good choices. Scott is not a suitable candidate.
While Cornyn and Thune have largely, but not entirely, kept the race out of the public eye and thereby demonstrated that they see the merit of caucus collegiality, Scott has chosen a different and less attractive path. At his reelection night victory party Tuesday night, for example, he positioned signs for cameras reading “Rick Scott for Senate Majority Leader.” His acceptance speech focused almost exclusively on what he would do in that position, not how he would serve the people of Florida.
He is pitching for President-elect Donald Trump‘s support, which shows an unappealing willingness to bully rather than work with his Republican Senate colleagues. Even a week before Election Day, Scott appeared on conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer’s podcast specifically to campaign for the majority leader position and push for Trump’s endorsement.
He seems unlikely to get it for a number of reasons. First, as a practical matter, Wednesday’s election will take place behind closed doors and the ballot is secret. We will know how each senator voted only if they choose to disclose it, so public pressure from Trump, if he were to apply it (and there is no current indication that he intends to do so), would probably be ineffective. Second, Scott is not widely liked, is a long-shot candidate, and would probably lose even if he had Trump’s support. Trump does not like to back losers. Finally, Trump will have to work with whichever leader emerges, and that executive-legislative partnership would get off to a better start if the senators were left to choose whom they want without interference.
There is no reason to expect any of the candidates to be incapable of working with Trump. Thune asked the president-elect to stay out of the race, and that is the best course of action for all involved. There will be many fights within the Republican Party, fights on policy worth having, but a public spat over the majority leadership would do the party no good and would be a self-created headache Trump does not need.
Cornyn and Thune have demonstrated a desire for party unity, although Cornyn called in 2020 for the party to move away from Trump after that election. Thune endorsed Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) in the 2024 presidential primary, but he and Cornyn have smoothed their personal relationship with Trump, pledging to work with him to implement his agenda while preserving Senate norms.
In addition to his ill-advised decision to enlist Loomer in his campaign for majority leader, Scott was one of seven Republican senators who voted not to certify Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results. This raises questions about his judgment and the extent to which he would compromise Senate rules to serve Trump at the expense of the institution to which he has been reelected. The Senate’s legislative filibuster would be in much more danger under Scott than it would under Thune or Cornyn.
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Thune and Cornyn do not have perfect pasts. They were part of the leadership during a period when, as we have editorialized, almost all legislation was brokered behind closed doors with lobbyists instead of out in the open on the Senate floor. We hope that both would commit to returning to regular order and not let Senate rules continue to be abused as they have been by both Democratic and Republican leaders, including both Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and McConnell. Ideally, the next Senate leader would commit to not “filling the amendment tree” and would instead allow for full robust debate, and amendment voting, on the Senate floor.
That is a matter for a bare majority of Republican senators to decide for themselves next Wednesday. We trust they will make the right decision.