GOP senator withholds support for Thune as leadership showdown looms
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican isn’t ready to support Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to stay as the top Republican as the GOP’s leadership elections fast approach.Sen. Rick...
By Fox News · Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican isn’t ready to support Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to stay as the top Republican as the GOP’s leadership elections fast approach. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., in an interview with Fox News Digital, argued that whoever would be the next to lead the Senate GOP and earn his vote in the process needed to lay out a plan on how Republicans would pass key agenda items heading into the lame-duck session of Congress before Senate Democrats take control in January. Thune plans to run again for another term as the GOP leader, but Scott and a cohort of others want to delay Tuesday morning’s leadership elections to debrief after stunning losses across the board on Election Night. Whether he’ll support Thune for another term depends on his pitch. SENATE GOP REBELS MOVE TO DELAY LEADERSHIP VOTE, DEMAND RECKONING AFTER MIDTERM DISASTER "I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Scott said. "I mean, I think the first step is what do we want to accomplish? And then anybody, including John Thune, if they want to be that, the first thing I have to say is, ‘Do they want to do that?’" "If that's not what they want to accomplish, then why would we elect them? But if that's what they want to accomplish, then tell us why they're the best at it," he continued. Senate Democrats flipped the upper chamber with wins in red states across the country, clinching a 54-seat majority that could grow even more depending on the outcomes of outstanding races in Mississippi and Alaska. STATE OF PLAY: BLUE WAVE SWEEPS DEMOCRATS INTO POWER, WITH KEY RACES STILL HANGING IN BALANCE That gives Republicans little time with a trifecta in government to ram through key remaining agenda items before Democrats officially take over. Thune still plans on running for leader, too, despite the grumbling among Republicans. He said on Monday after lawmakers returned to Washington that he expected a "very engaged conversation" ahead…