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South Dakota senator John Thune will be the next Republican leader in the Senate and the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, after garnering the support of a majority of the party’s lawmakers in the upper chamber of Congress.
Thune was selected to replace Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell as the Senate’s top Republican in a secret ballot on Wednesday morning.
The result is a rebuke to allies of president-elect Donald Trump, including billionaire Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk, Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk and former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, who had all pushed for Florida senator Rick Scott to get the top job.
Scott was eliminated in the first round of voting, and Thune defeated Texas senator John Cornyn in the second round to secure the backing of the majority of his colleagues.
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.
This is a developing story
