Thune to run for minority leader

Savannah Behrmann, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 4, 2026

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Senate Republicans are preparing to make the transition from the majority to the minority — and their top leaders will seek to retain their positions in the 120th Congress, even after the political drubbing they endured Tuesday night.

Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., will run for minority leader during next week’s GOP leadership elections, a spokesperson for his office said.

After enjoying a 53-47 majority, he will face a very different chamber next year, with Democrats looking to control between 54 to 56 seats, depending on how the dust settles.

In a post on X just after midnight on election night, as the extent of the losses became clear, Thune wrote, “Over the last two years, Senate Republicans have put up a strong record of accomplishment that’s created safer streets, more money in Americans’ pockets, and new opportunities for families and businesses to get ahead.”

“As we head into 2027, Senate Republicans will not stand idly by as the far-left, socialist wing of the Democrat Party attempts to unwind everything we’ve done,” he said. “Thankfully, we still have President Trump in the White House, and we’ll work with him to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism.”

Thune, 65, has served as the majority leader for nearly two years since winning a three-way race to succeed Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as the chamber’s top Republican. That was a spot McConnell had held since taking his party’s leadership reins in early 2007, making him the longest-serving Senate party leader in history, counting his time in both the minority and the majority.

Thune at times had a tumultuous relationship with the president as Trump pushed legislation, like the voter-ID related bill known as the SAVE America Act, that never had a chance of passing the chamber.

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming will also seek his existing role in the minority as well, an aide confirmed.

“Republicans had a tough night last night. We lost great Senators in hard races,” he said on X Wednesday afternoon. “There are clear lessons to be learned from the results.”

“We should listen to what voters unmistakably said last night,” Barrasso, 74, said. “In the Senate, we will aggressively oppose terrible ideas that drive our country toward the socialism Democrats embraced. Our commitment is to common sense. And our focus should not waiver from the top priority of driving down prices that have remained stubbornly too high.”

“I’m here for the fight,” he added.

The leadership elections for Senate Republicans will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 9 a.m. in the Old Senate Chamber.

So far, no one has publicly come forward to challenge Thune, and his fellow Republican colleagues were already coalescing around him ahead of the midterms.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who ran against Thune in 2024 and is a friend of the president’s, said in September then he was not planning on challenging him again.