Both parties in the Senate yesterday largely re-elected the same leadership teams that were in place before the elections last week.
As expected, the Senate Republicans re-elected Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as Majority Leader. John Cornyn of Texas, who had to step aside as Majority Whip because of party-imposed term limits on leadership positions, was replaced by John Thune of South Dakota, who moved up from the position of Republican Conference Chair.
On the other side of the aisle, Charles Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin retained the top two Democratic positions.
In the House, although challenged by Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the co-founders of the Freedom Caucus, Kevin McCarthy of California will serve as the Minority Leader when the 116th Congress convenes. He currently serves as the Majority Leader and there had been speculation about whether he had enough votes to succeed retiring Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) as the leader of the House Republicans. McCarthy won yesterday’s vote among the Republicans 159 to 43.
The biggest uncertainty regarding party leadership races remains with the House Democrats, who will assume the majority next Congress and will not vote on their leadership team until after Thanksgiving. With a number of Democrats stating publicly before the elections that they would not support Nancy Pelosi of California, it remains to be seen whether she has the votes to become the next Speaker.