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GOP senator withholds support for Thune as leadership showdown looms

FIRST ON FOX: A Senate Republican isn’t ready to support Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to stay as the top Republican as the GOP’s leadership elections fast approach.

✦ Extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting•From 2 sources•1 min read•Updated November 10, 2026, 10:00 AM UTC
Key points
  • Despite the arguments that Thune should not get to lock in his leadership so quickly, no one has thrown their hat in the ring to challenge him.
  • Why it matters: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is still expected to be reelected to lead the Senate GOP tomorrow.
  • Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) all signed a letter demanding that the leadership elections be delayed to allow for more discussion about what went wrong for the party last week.

Thune plans to run again for another term as the GOP leader, but Scott and a cohort of others want to delay Tuesday morning’s leadership elections to debrief after stunning losses across the board on Election Night.

SENATE GOP REBELS MOVE TO DELAY LEADERSHIP VOTE, DEMAND RECKONING AFTER MIDTERM DISASTER "I don't want to put the cart before the horse," Scott said.

Additional details
  • The election is expected to be held as planned Tuesday morning unless a senator motions to delay and it passes with a majority — which seems unlikely with the number of public supporters, according to a source familiar with the planning discussions.
  • Seven Republican senators now are calling for their leadership elections to be delayed — with one even promising to walk out rather than vote Tuesday.
  • Between the lines: The decision technically falls to conference chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) — though it's usually made with leadership buy-in.
  • Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Conference Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) Policy Committee Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) and Conference Vice Chair James Lankford (R-Okla.) are expected to keep their spots as Nos.
  • The bottom line: At this point, none of the leadership elections are competitive.

How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →

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Every article behind this summary — 2 articles from 2 outlets

Fox NewsNovember 10, 2026, 10:00 AM UTC → AxiosNovember 9, 2026, 11:26 PM UTC →

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