Leaked Senate Leadership Vote Reveals Frontrunner to Succeed Mitch McConnell

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Leaked Senate Leadership Vote Reveals Frontrunner to Succeed Mitch McConnell

The leadership race for the U.S. Senate’s looming Republican majority kicked into overdrive on Sunday after sources close to the two establishment candidates released a list of commitments showing both leading Rick Scott (R-FL), the MAGA movement’s standard-bearer.

In what may have been a move to build grassroots momentum for Scott’s ascendancy, a Senate source provided conservative reporter Benny Johnson with a whip count showing both Sens. John Thune (R-SD) and John Cornyn (R-TX) with sizable leads among the three.

Scott, who received the backing of prominent MAGA influencers over the weekend, sits in third place with 11 public commitments; Thune leads with 24 while Cornyn trails in second place with 18.

The secret vote will mean the top finisher has big shoes to fill in Washington, D.C. In March, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced he would step down from leadership following the November elections and would not seek to return to the position of Majority Leader when Republicans take control of the upper chamber. The power vacuum now forces Thune and Cornyn, both loyal deputies, to split the establishment vote while Scott tries to run up the middle.

Thune and Cornyn were subjected to a pressure campaign by Trump supporters who announced their endorsements of Scott over the weekend. Among them were Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Vivek Ramaswamy, and Charlie Kirk, Politico reported, all of whom used their sway on social media to encourage Trump supporters to bombard senators’ offices with calls to endorse Scott.

“Only Rick Scott understands the urgency of the moment,” CPAC founder Matt Schlapp posted on X. Another widely shared post said senators’ silence speaks volumes about who they are supporting in the race.

“If your Senator has not vocally supported Rick Scott, they’re likely voting Thune/Cornyn,” conservative activist Robby Starbuck threw into the mix.

“This will become a major issue down the line if one of them wins. Grassroots won’t forget this.”

Sources inside the Senate said the effort may be a miscue. “Senators do not take kindly to having an army of social media trolls attack them,” an aide texted to the outlet.

However, the goal for some Senate Republicans endorsing Scott may not be picking their next boss but rather seeking to bolster their chances for a position in the Trump administration. Among the Florida Republican’s supporters are fellow Floridian Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Bill Hagerty (R-TN), both said to be in line for Cabinet posts.

Later on Sunday night, Johnson said his Senate source revealed that the pressure campaign is beginning to affect the whip count. “I just received a call from an impeccably high-profile source confirming the publication of this list is MOVING votes to Rick Scott in real-time,” he wrote. “Keep the pressure up. This is how we restore power to the people.”

President-elect Donald Trump weighed in earlier that day, stating the next Senate majority leader must make use of recess appointments to allow for confirmation proceedings without a quorum, a maneuver typically leveraged by the minority party to slow-walk the process. “Any Republican Senator seeking the coveted LEADERSHIP position in the United States Senate must agree to Recess Appointments (in the Senate!), without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner. Sometimes the votes can take two years, or more. This is what they did four years ago, and we cannot let it happen again,” Trump wrote on X while suggesting that Democrats are trying to “ram through” judicial appointments before he takes office.

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