Senate Republicans lament midterms, weigh leadership election delay

Savannah Behrmann, CQ-Roll Call on Nov 10, 2026

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WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Tuesday were weighing whether to postpone their leadership elections after what several senators described as a “frank” conversation about their midterm losses last week.

But so far, no official candidate has emerged to challenge John Thune, R-S.D., for the post of minority leader in the new Congress.

The conference was supposed to begin its leadership elections Tuesday morning, but pushed those back to hear from members still reeling from the midterm results, which saw the GOP lose their Senate majority. As the conference meeting turned into what some dubbed an “open-mic session,” they took a break to attend previously scheduled committee hearings, with a plan to return at 2 p.m. Next they must decide whether to forge ahead and pick leaders Tuesday or to punt those choices to a different day.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said the conversation taking place was “honest” and “frank.”

“I will vote for the delay,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of things that we’ve got to think through, and I think to rush into this and to just ratify all the same leadership — I mean, what message does that send?”

“If you don’t think after losing seven seats minimum that we need to change course, I don’t know what planet you’re on,” he said, adding he was frustrated that his party didn’t do more to focus on topics like affordability ahead of the midterms. “I know it’s easy to blame other people, but we need to look at what has happened here.”

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who is leading the charge to delay the leadership elections and collected signatures to call the conference meeting beforehand, called it “a very high-quality conversation” in which he was “leading.”

“People are voicing opinions on all sides of the issues. It’s one of those times in the Republican conference where you kind of go, ‘We’ve got some smart people, and we’re having a very good, respectful conversation.’”

No challenger to Thune, the current majority leader, stepped forward during the closed-door meeting, several senators said. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said “they’re not even criticizing Thune” inside the room. “It hasn’t been about John Thune.”

“It’s been about the family,” Cramer said, describing it as a “family discussion.” Thune and others in leadership had yet to speak, as the candidate forum hadn’t started yet.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said voters reacted to high gas prices, the war in Iran and the cost of living.

“The cost of living defeated us,” Paul said. “I don’t think anybody in Texas who voted for the Democrat governor was voting against John Thune. If you diagnose that as a problem, you’re misdiagnosing the problem.”

Hawley didn’t say how long he’d like to see a delay. “Long enough for people to think through this, and if there’s somebody else … or several somebodies who want to run for positions, let them think through it.”

Cramer was asked if senators in the room were placing any blame on President Donald Trump over how he handled midterm messaging.

“There was a lot of discussion about the president,” Cramer said.

—John M. Donnelly contributed to the report.