Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune (R-SD) declared that Republicans in the next U.S. Senate “are excited” to enact President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda.
Thune tweeted that he spoke with Trump after his Republican colleagues elected him to lead the Senate in the 119th Congress.
“Just got off the phone with [Donald Trump.] Senate Republicans are excited and ready to get to work implementing President Trump’s agenda on behalf of the American people,” Thune wrote in a post on X.
He expressed a similar sentiment at his press conference earlier in the afternoon. After saying the American people “have loudly rejected the failed policies of the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda,” Thune shared that Senate Republicans “are excited” to work with their counterparts in the House of Representatives “to enact President Trump’s agenda.”
“We have a mandate from the American people, a mandate not only to clean up the mess left by the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda but also to deliver on President Trump’s priorities,” Thune said.
Thune pointed to enforcing “border security laws,” “streamlining the bureaucratic machine,” and unleashing “American energy dominance” as several critical areas of focus:
We will make sure that the President and his team have the tools and support that they need to enforce border security laws and to remove the violent criminals who are wreaking havoc in every one of our states. We will work to make America prosperous again by streamlining the bureaucratic machine and overturning costly Biden-Harris regulations, and we will work to restore American energy dominance, not just our energy security, but energy dominance, which will lower costs and bolster our national security.
Thune beat out two competitors, Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Rick Scott (R-FL), to earn the majority leader position. Scott, who was backed by many Trump allies, including Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, drew just 13 votes on the first ballot to Thune’s 23 and Cornyn’s 15.
Thune won on the second ballot with 29 votes to Cornyn’s 24.
“I’m excited to get to work with this team right away,” Thune said. “And I want to thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to serve as leader, and to those who were supporting another candidate: I promise to be a leader who serves the entire Republican Conference.”