One rumored contender to supersede Senate Republican Leadership Mitch McConnell has broken his silence.
Wyoming Senator John Barrasso announced his plans to run for Republican Whip and not the number one spot on March 5.
“I have had time to reflect on how I might best serve the Republican Conference and our country,” he said in a press release. “After a lot of thought, I will ask my colleagues for their support and help to work for them as the Assistant Republican Leader.”
He also sent a letter to Senate Republicans noting the death of his wife, Bobbi, according to the Washington Times. Mrs. Barrasso passed away in January after a two-year battle with Glioblastoma brain cancer.
Barrasso currently holds the number three leadership position, the conference chair. In this capacity, the senator oversees committee appointments and the creation of legislative agendas. He endorsed former President Donald Trump in January, citing the need to change the direction of the federal government.
"If you want to get the country back on track, which is what I want to do, we need a strong, Republican, conservative House and Senate. And we need Donald Trump back in the White House," said Barrasso, per Politico.
Following the Wyoming senator’s announcement, Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas announced his intention to be the next conference chair.
According to The Hill:Cotton is making a bold move. He doesn’t hold an elected Senate GOP leadership spot, and Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is ... next in line to chair the GOP conference. She currently holds the No. 4-ranking leadership slot.
If Cotton is elected GOP conference chair, he would also leapfrog Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), the Senate GOP conference vice chair.
Traditionally, Senate Republicans have moved up the leadership ladder one rung at a time, but decorum is being put on the shelf at the moment amid one of the biggest scrambles for power within Senate Republican ranks in decades.
Both Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator John Thune of South Dakota are running to replace Republican leader McConnell, who announced his intention to step down from leadership on Feb. 28.
Cornyn, the first to launch his campaign, previously served as the Republican Whip. He praised McConnell who he described as “pragmatic, knowledgeable, humble, and effective.”
“He has led the Senate through difficult periods, and I am grateful for his dedicated service to our country and this institution,” said Cornyn.
Thune is currently the Senate Minority Whip. He confirmed his plans to become the Republican leader while speaking with KELOLAND News on March 4.
“I’m going to do everything I can to convince my colleagues,” Thune said. “They’re the voters. They’re the ones who ultimately make the decision. But that as we look at a new generation of consistent, principled, conservative leadership in the United States Senate that empowers our Senate Republicans, that puts a check and balanced against the Schumer, what has been the, a very liberal Schumer/Biden agenda, I’m prepared to lead that effort.”
Thune’s remarks came just over a week after he endorsed Trump for reelection.
“I support former President Trump's campaign to win the presidency, and I intend to do everything I can to see that he has a Republican majority in the Senate working with him to restore American strength at home and abroad," he told Fox News. "Together we must put an end to the disastrous Biden-Schumer agenda. Our country cannot endure another four years of Bidenomics, continued lawlessness at our southern border, and American weakness on the global stage."
