Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is getting to enjoy his honeymoon phase for a little while longer.
Anti-establishment conservatives who fought his rise to leader remain satisfied with Thune’s performance and are cautiously optimistic as President Donald Trump turns up the pressure to confirm his nominees and advance his second-term agenda.
“It’s a hard job. I think he’s doing what he ran on,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who challenged Thune in November for the job and seeks to chart a friendlier relationship with the new leadership, told the Washington Examiner. “I think he’s just trying to bring people together. I’ve had lots of conversation with him.”
Some Democrats were unable to find critiques of Thune, even as many have sought to derail or delay several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees and progressives stew over handing Trump an early legislative win on immigration with the Laken Riley Act.
“[Thune] looks at the world differently than I look at the world,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) said. “But we’ve got a lot of work to do, and I think he’s about making progress and getting work done. I don’t have any criticisms.”
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But beneath the pleasantries toward a man who’s been on the job only a few weeks lingers the brewing but inevitable question: How long can Thune please the “Breakfast Club” types in his Republican Conference?
His success hinges on the “strong” communication he’s forged with Trump and remaining in the president’s good graces, something Thune’s predecessor, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), ultimately failed to do. Thune successfully papered over past tiffs with Trump before becoming leader, but the president’s first term revealed the limits of Trump’s patience with party leaders who don’t go along with his program.
“Should [their relationship] become something less than solid, I think it would be a big problem,” said Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who backed Scott for GOP leader. “It’s important that he remain on good terms with the president. The best way to do that is to deliver.”
Thune has faced early tests on balancing a conference that extends from centrists such as Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Susan Collins (R-ME) to ultra-conservatives such as Hawley, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY). Thune downplayed Trump’s blanket pardons for Jan. 6 rioters, including those who assaulted police officers, by pointing the finger at former President Joe Biden for opening the door with 11th-hour pardons of family members.
Operating with a 53-47 majority, Thune enjoys a marginal buffer as Republicans race to overcome Democratic delays and confirm nominees Trump is itching to have in place.
The Senate confirmed Pete Hegseth to be defense secretary Friday night, capping off a turbulent nomination for Republicans that included defections from Collins and Murkowksi. The episode amounted to one of the first stress tests of their new Senate majority.
“You’ve got a lot of personalities in our conference,” Murkowski said. “I really think [Thune] is doing a good job balancing all of that.”
Trump has since deferred to Thune on recess appointments, a move that Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) described as the president offering the Senate leader “latitude to navigate through the choppy waters on Capitol Hill.” Thune expressed a level of satisfaction from the White House with the chamber’s progress on confirmations.
“They know we’re doing everything we can,” Thune told the Washington Examiner. “The rules under which we operate here in the Senate with respect to nominations are sometimes not the most accommodating when it comes to speed. But we are, I think, on pace [with] where we want to be in terms of moving the process along.”
Thune’s decision to have the Senate work through a rare weekend session to confirm Hegseth and advance other Trump nominees was a welcomed move to GOP colleagues eager to achieve more confirmations.
“It’s clear Senate Democrats can deliver. They just did a huge way in the first Biden term. It was incredible what they got through,” Hawley said. “People are wondering, can Senate Republicans do that? I think Thune gets it, and he gets that he’s got to show that they can.”
Some of Thune’s prior conservative critics have undoubtedly been busied with chairmanships, powerful positions that have given the conference’s rabble-rousers newfound influence not previously afforded under McConnell. Scott leads the Aging Committee, Paul leads the Homeland Security Committee, Lee runs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is in charge of the Commerce Committee.
Cruz, who also backed Scott for leader, described Thune’s leadership team as members who are prepared to “innovate,” “fight,” and “engage” to achieve Trump’s agenda.
“But it’s also a challenge to get 50 Republicans together on the same page,” Cruz said. “I think John Thune is doing a very good job of that so far.”
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Democrats saw Thune’s rise as their best option for compromise among the leader candidates, something McConnell extended to Democrats that was, at times, at the expense of his own standing within the party. In a move that likely bolstered Thune’s goodwill among conservatives, he recently irked many Democrats for limiting the amendment process to expedite passage of the bipartisan Laken Riley Act.
“We told Republicans we wanted to have a serious and productive and fruitful debate on this legislation, with the chance to vote on amendments to modify the bill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in recent floor remarks. “Democrats filed many amendments to the bill. But unfortunately, our Republican colleagues and the Republican leader didn’t reach an agreement with us.”
