Several prominent Republican senators are calling for a delay in next week’s Senate GOP leadership elections.
While Mitch McConnell is widely expected to easily win the top spot again, making him the longest Senate party leader in history, he is facing some dissension in the ranks.
Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley says he plans to oppose McConnell and called for a delay, citing the upcoming Dec. 6 Georgia runoff.
“I don’t know why Senate GOP would hold a leadership vote for the next Congress before this election is finished. We have a runoff in #GASenate — are they saying that doesn’t matter? Don’t disenfranchise @HerschelWalker,” Hawley tweeted.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted: “The Senate GOP leadership vote next week should be postponed. First we need to make sure that those who want to lead us are genuinely committed to fighting for the priorities & values of the working Americans (of every background) who gave us big wins in states like #Florida.”
Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah also joined the calls for a delay in a letter that's circulating in Washington, according to sources familiar with the matter.
“We are all disappointed that a Red Wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not,” says the letter. “We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024.”
The comments come as Politico reported that Scott was considering a long-shot bid against McConnell but ultimately dropped the effort amid the lackluster GOP showing on Tuesday. Scott had little chance of defeating McConnell, who has been working for months to lock down the votes and told CNN last month that he has the votes.
CNN has reached out to McConnell’s office about the Hawley and Rubio comments.