Senate Republicans defeat push for delays, reelect Thune leader

Most Republicans opted to vote against a period of purgatory after their electoral thrashing. Senate Republicans voted today to proceed with their leadership elections, blowing past delay requests by a handful of members. The move paved the way for the reelection of current Republican leader John Thune, putting the rest of his team on the path to keep leading the conference in the next Congress. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a leader of the effort to delay, said the vote wasn’t particularly close and walked out in protest — but also underscored that his objection wasn’t about Thune, who he said has been “unfairly attacked” by the GOP base. “When you have this kind of defeat, you’d like to at least give people an opportunity to think about it,” Johnson said. But without a clear challenger to Thune, who won without opposition, most Republicans opted to vote against a period of purgatory after their electoral thrashing.