The House and the Senate have selected their new leaders for the 119th Congress. Here’s who will be in charge of key roles in both chambers next year.
The Senate: Sen. John Thune’s (R-S.D.) election as the next GOP leader — and majority leader in the 119th Congress — is a major moment for the Senate Republican Conference.
By all indications, outgoing Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s iron-fist style of leadership will be a thing of the past. Thune has promised a “democratization” of the conference, a nod to conservatives’ long-running criticisms of McConnell.
Behind Thune, the rest of the GOP hierarchy will be as follows:
— Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso
— Senate GOP Conference Chair Tom Cotton
— Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), chair of the Republican Policy Committee
— Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), vice chair of the conference
— Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chair of the NRSC
Thune’s job won’t be easy. He’ll have to deal with President-elect Donald Trump, with whom he’s sparred in the past. He’ll also have to contend with dueling factions of his conference, most importantly the group of hardline conservatives who will be watching closely to ensure that Thune keeps his promises.
We talked about this with Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), an early supporter of Thune’s leadership bid. Rounds has known his fellow South Dakotan for four decades.
After last week’s leadership election, Rounds told us Republicans “can’t afford to have hard feelings” given the task ahead. Conservatives’ frustrations with McConnell were the driving force behind many of the commitments that Thune and the other candidates made. Yet the next few months will be a “learning experience” for the new leadership team, Rounds said.
“They saw the really good things that Mitch did and they saw the things [where] sometimes the conference would be frustrated with what Mitch did,” Rounds said. “John Thune watched it all.”
One of the central yet unresolved issues at the heart of the leadership debate is whether the party leader should make a decision without having secured the support of a majority of the conference. McConnell routinely did that on appropriations and other bipartisan initiatives, arguing he had no other choice.
That will present a challenge for Thune.
“[Republicans] recognized that Mitch McConnell took a lot of spears for the conference,” Rounds said. “And they recognize that sometimes leadership requires that.”
On the Democratic side, the upper rung of the leadership isn’t changing, with soon-to-be Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Whip Dick Durbin leading the caucus.
The House: While the Senate leadership got a shake-up, there’s been barely any movement atop the House hierarchy.
House Republicans kept their top leadership positions intact, with Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Whip Tom Emmer all getting reelected with no opposition. That marks a significant win for Johnson, who faced threats from the party’s right flank. However, he still needs to win a speaker vote on the floor in January.
Republicans elected Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) to succeed outgoing Conference Chair Elise Stefanik. McClain is the only woman in top elected GOP leadership. The Michigander beat Rep. Kat Cammack (R-Fla.) for the role. NRCC Chair Richard Hudson also is back in his role as top campaign official.
Despite House Democrats staying in the minority, the top three leaders — Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar — all won reelection without any challenges.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) also remained atop the DPCC, the messaging arm for House Democrats, when she easily beat back a challenge from Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
While Jeffries hasn’t selected the DCCC chair for the next Congress yet, we wouldn’t be surprised if current Chair Suzan DelBene is asked to continue for another term.
