Senate Majority Leader John Thune and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) endorsed Rep. Kevin Hern’s bid for the open Senate seat in Oklahoma to replace Sen. Markwayne Mullin on Thursday, as Republicans look to avoid a messy primary in the red-leaning state.

Thune called Hern a “proven conservative leader” and supporter of their shared Republican agenda. “He will be a great asset in the Senate and has my full support and endorsement,” Thune said in a statement.

The seat is open after President Donald Trump tapped Mullin to replace Kristi Noem as Department of Homeland Security secretary.

Trump had previously endorsed Hern for the Senate seat in a post on Truth Social.

“A true friend of MAGA, Kevin is now running for the United States Senate, where I know he will continue to do an incredible job,” Trump wrote. “Kevin is strongly supported by the fiercest MAGA Warriors in Oklahoma, and the most Highly Respected Leaders in the United States Senate!”

Hern is running in November for a full term, but Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt will need to appoint a successor in the coming weeks to serve until then. By state law, the person who is appointed to fill the seat temporarily cannot run for the full term.

Other major Republican figures in the state — including Stitt and Rep. Stephanie Bice — have said they would not run for the Senate seat.

The Senate Homeland Security Committee voted Thursday to advance Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be the next Homeland Security secretary, after the Oklahoma lawmaker clashed with committee Chair Rand Paul in a surprisingly tense Wednesday confirmation hearing.

The vote fell mostly along party lines, with a notable vote swap. Paul, a Kentucky Republican, voted against advancing Mullin’s nomination. Paul took Mullin to task Wednesday over past disparaging comments Mullin made against him and the nature of “special missions” he claimed to have taken as a member of the House.

All but one Democrat — John Fetterman of Pennsylvania — voted against advancing Mullin’s nomination.

Lawmakers are rethinking legislation that seeks to further honor the late activist César Chávez after sexual misconduct allegations have now surfaced decades after his death.

President Barack Obama in 2012 created the César E. Chávez National Monument in Keene, California, and lawmakers have been wanting to turn the site into a national historic park. Those plans will now change.

Two California Democrats, Rep. Raul Ruiz and Alex Padilla, signaled yesterday they would no longer seek to advance legislation they previously championed, which would sought to “preserve the nationally significant sites associated with César E. Chávez and the farm worker movement across California and Arizona.”

Their companion bills also would have called for a study to create the “Farmworker Peregrinación National Historic Trail,” marking a 300-mile march that occurred in 1966.

“As the lead sponsor in House of the César E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Historical Park Act, Congressman Ruiz will take steps to rename and revise the legislation in honor of farmworkers both to respect the victims and to serve as an initial step toward accountability,” a Ruiz aide said Wednesday.

Padilla’s office said that the senator supports the removal of Chávez’s name from any landmarks, institutions or honors, and plans to rework the Senate version of the legislation.

“There must be zero tolerance for abuse, exploitation, and the silencing of victims, no matter who is involved,” Padilla said in a statement. “Confronting painful truths and ensuring accountability is essential to honoring the very values the greater farm worker movement stands for — values rooted in dignity and justice for all.”

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus also issued a statement on social media calling Chávez “flawed beyond absolution,” while vowing to work to rename “streets, post offices, vessels and holidays” that honor Chávez.

A New York Times story this week detailed allegations that Chávez sexually assaulted women and girls, including Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with him. The existing 187-acre monument site includes the union headquarters.

Dennis Arguelles, the Southern California director of the National Parks Conservation Association, called the allegations against Chávez “deeply disturbing” but noted that the national monument is not about a “single person.”

“For many years, NPCA supported a national park site — the current national monument as well as a proposal that would include sites in several western states — that would honor the farmworker movement and those who fought for dignity, better working conditions, and fair wages,” Arguelles said in a statement. “This movement, which the National Park Service found to be nationally significant history, is not about a single person.”

He said the site, “the first to recognize contemporary Latinos, plays a critical role in ensuring that our country’s diversity and complex stories are shared.”