Senate GOP selects Thune, House GOP keeps Johnson

What happened

Republicans Wednesday elected Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) to be their leader in the upper chamber, making him the next Senate majority leader in January. Thune, 63, will replace Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the longest-serving Senate leader, after beating Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) in a secret ballot. House Republicans voted to keep Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as House speaker in the next Congress.

Who said what

Thune pledged to work closely with President-elect Donald Trump to enact his agenda, though "the two men have not always seen eye to eye," said NBC News. Thune was among the few Republicans who "rejected Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him," leading to a rift the incoming Senate leader spent the past few months working to mend. Scott's candidacy had been "championed in recent days by several prominent Trump allies," CNN said, but the secret ballot gave cover to "Republicans wary of offending Trump's most ardent supporters."

Mike Johnson's victory was eased by Trump's endorsement and a deal between the hard-right Freedom Caucus and the "more mainstream conservative Main Street Caucus" that notably raised the bar for toppling a speaker, The Associated Press said. But the "outcome belies a more difficult road ahead for the speaker." Johnson's "true test is a formal vote on the House floor in January, where he'll have almost no room for error" in the closely divided chamber, Politico said.

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What next?

Thune — elevated to majority leader 20 years after he unseated Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) — said his initial priorities will be border security, energy policy and "overturning costly Biden-Harris regulations."