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South Dakota senator John Thune has been elected the next Republican leader in the Senate during Donald Trump’s second term, setting him up as a potential check on the incoming president’s agenda and power.
The decision by a majority of Republicans to back Thune on Wednesday was a rebuke to Trump allies, including billionaire Tesla boss Elon Musk, Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk and former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson, who had all pushed for Florida senator Rick Scott to get the top job.
But Trump — who in the past called Thune “weak and ineffective” and a “Rino”, or “Republican in name only” — did not make an endorsement in the leadership race.
Thune’s election as the Republican leader in Congress’s upper chamber came as Trump made a triumphant return to Washington following his victory against Kamala Harris last week.
US President Joe Biden invited Trump to meet at the White House, where both leaders pledged an orderly transfer of power ahead of the January handover.
“Congratulations,” Biden told Trump as they sat near the fireplace in the Oval Office. “I look forward to having a smooth transition.”
Trump responded: “It will be as smooth as it can get and I very much appreciate that, Joe.”
Biden and Trump have been bitter political rivals for years. Biden beat Trump in the 2020 election, and they faced off this year before Biden dropped out as the Democratic candidate in July to make way for Harris. While the president has called Trump a threat to US democracy in the past, Trump has accused Biden of being the worst president in US history.
“Politics is tough and in many cases it’s not a nice world, but it is a nice world today,” Trump said.
The two men and their chiefs of staff met for about two hours in the Oval Office, where the president-elect asked a detailed set of questions, according to the White House.
“It was a substantive meeting,” said Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. “They discussed important national security and domestic policy issues facing the nation and the world.”
“There was a very good back and forth” and Trump was “gracious”, she added.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said that during the meeting Biden “reinforced his view that the United States standing with Ukraine on an ongoing basis is in our national security interest”.
Thune’s victory in the Senate leadership race sets him up to be a critical figure — and potential obstacle — for Trump as the president-elect pursues his agenda, including an extension of his 2017 tax cuts, and to secure the confirmation of his nominees for top jobs and cabinet posts.
Trump has made a number of nominations, including Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and US military veteran, as defence secretary, that could face opposition in the Senate.
The nominations of controversial Florida congressman Matt Gaetz to be attorney-general and former Democratic representative Tulsi Gabbard to be intelligence chief are also likely to be heavily scrutinised in the Senate.
Thune defeated Texas senator John Cornyn in the second round of voting on Wednesday to secure the backing of the majority of his colleagues, after Scott was eliminated in the first round.
“This Republican team is united behind President Trump’s agenda, and our work starts today,” Thune said.
From January, Republicans will hold both chambers of Congress after US TV networks on Wednesday showed the party had surpassed the 218 seats needed to retain control of the House. Its margin, however, remains uncertain, with a handful of seats yet to be called. Republicans also gained four Senate seats in last week’s election, taking control of the Senate from Democrats.
Trump on Wednesday addressed House Republicans on Capitol Hill and gave a ringing endorsement to Speaker Mike Johnson.
Thune, 63, is the senior US senator from South Dakota and has been number two in the Senate leadership pecking order behind Mitch McConnell since 2019.
Thune is seen as more of an establishment Republican, compared with Cornyn or Scott. He did not support Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, though earlier this year Thune met the former president at his resort in Florida.
Trump sought to flex his political muscle by insisting at the weekend that any Republican leader in the Senate should let him make recess appointments to his cabinet, bypassing the formal Senate confirmation process.
Thune replied in a statement that lawmakers “must act quickly and decisively to get the president’s cabinet and other nominees in place as soon as possible”, adding: “All options are on the table to make that happen, including recess appointments.”
