Senate Republicans Move To Protect Party From Voting

Senate Republicans launched a courageous revolt against John Thune on Monday, demanding that leadership elections be postponed before the dangerous practice of voting inflicts additional democracy on the party. After Republicans lost at least seven Senate seats and their majority in last week’s midterms, Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, Mike Lee, Ted Budd and John Kennedy called for a “robust discussion” before Thune’s expected reelection as GOP leader. Dave McCormick and Jim Banks also supported a delay, confirming that Republicans had identified the principal cause of their defeat: holding elections close enough together for voters to develop a habit.

The uprising does not technically constitute a challenge to Thune because no senator has offered to run against him. Instead, it follows the party’s established accountability process, under which lawmakers demand sweeping change while protecting every title, committee assignment, office and preferred parking space. Johnson threatened to walk out if the vote proceeded Tuesday, demonstrating the caucus’s commitment to governing by leaving the room whenever the arithmetic becomes hostile. Thune said he was willing to hear arguments for postponement, displaying the decisive leadership that prompted senators to question his decisive leadership.

President Donald Trump praised the senators for recognizing that ballots become reckless when they produce inconvenient totals. “John Thune did an unbelievable job, maybe the greatest job losing the Senate anybody has ever seen, but you cannot rush these elections because Republicans might accidentally choose somebody,” Trump said. “We need a very strong review, a beautiful review, until everyone forgets who was in charge and agrees the calendar did it.” Republican senators are expected to spend several days examining the defeat before unanimously concluding that voters, Democrats, calendars and elections maliciously conspired against the people who controlled Washington. The party’s majority was therefore not lost at the polls; it was stolen by the existence of polls.

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