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GOP senators brush off concerns about Thune’s relationship with Trump

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John Thune triumphed in his campaign for GOP leader by laser-focusing on two things: Republican senators and mending his relationship with Donald Trump.

He spent the last few months donating heavily to colleagues and joining them on their campaigns. He spoke frequently with Trump directly, including after the general election last week. And he ignored a conservative and MAGA-world pressure campaign to elect Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as the GOP leader.

“I’ve been focused on my colleagues,” Thune said. He narrowly defeated Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on the second ballot by a vote of 29-24. Scott fell on the first ballot.

His ability to navigate his way to victory in this political environment is an early signal of how Thune plans to try to balance leading a historically bipartisan institution and appeasing Trump when Republicans control all branches of the government.

An institutionalist like his predecessor, current Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Thune has worked to stay in touch with Trump while keeping his focus heavily on the senators who will actually keep him in power. Senators ultimately backing Thune indicates they remain interested in holding tight to their congressional powers, even as they look to greenlight much of Trump’s agenda — many Thune backers cited holding firm to separation of powers as one of their motivations heading into the vote.

Still, it was important to senators that Thune ended his rift with Trump, after a series of public criticisms against the former president. Thune said after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack that Trump’s actions were “inexcusable.” He was also the first member of congressional GOP leadership to call on Trump to withdraw from the presidential race after the infamous Access Hollywood tape was made public.

But even conservative senators aren’t worried about that history, at least right now.

“J.D. Vance once referred to him as Hitler, and he’s vice president,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told Blue Light News of Thune’s past criticism of Trump. “So, one thing I know about Donald Trump: he’s got that sort of jocular, masculine ability to let the past be the past and embrace and pray in the middle of the 50-yard line after the game.”

Cramer, a Thune backer, called Trump “not an irrelevant factor, but not the main factor” for most senators’ votes on the leadership slate.

“They’re in a good place with each other,” added Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who’s spent recent time with Trump and is a Thune ally. “There’s no rift between them. There are no concerns about their relationship at all.”

Still, there are major potential areas of disagreement looming over the next two years, particularly the fate of the Senate filibuster. The president-elect has at times called to abolish the 60-vote threshold, including pushing hard on then-Majority Leader McConnell during Trump’s first term in the White House, while Thune has publicly confirmed he plans to keep the current threshold in place.

And there are still moderates in the chamber who could be a thorn in Thune’s side on nominees or other conservative priorities. GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) have been vocally outspoken against the president at times. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial, is still in the chamber.

Trump, in Washington for meetings with the House Republican conference and President Joe Biden, did not immediately comment following the approval of the new Senate GOP leadership slate. But Thune and Trump have spoken regularly over the past few months, including a phone call after Thune won on Wednesday.

“[Thune] said over and over and over and over that he was going to make President Trump’s agenda his agenda, and so I feel good about that,” prominent conservative Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who supported Cornyn, said after the vote.

Multiple senators pointed out that Thune’s voting record aligned with Trump’s more than 90 percent of the time during the president-elect’s first term in office, according to a FiveThirtyEight average, a point that was underscored during a candidate forum Tuesday and during nomination speeches Wednesday.

“President Trump and Sen. Thune I think will do a great job working together,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.). “Sen. Thune is ready for change, and he knows that America is expecting results.”

That voting record is not reflective of some of Thune’s prior dust-ups with Trump, though. In addition to comments on Jan. 6 and the Access Hollywood tapes, Thune more recently backed Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) initially in the 2024 Republican primary before shifting to Trump after the South Carolinian withdrew from the race. Trump even sought to recruit a primary challenger against Thune for his 2022 reelection bid, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Despite that history and their losses, Cornyn and Scott both expressed support for Thune’s leadership and vowed Republicans would stick together to enact their agenda.

“There’s no division,” Cornyn insisted. “I think it’s really important for our conference to stay together, to be as effective as we can be. … It was a secret ballot so, I don’t think any of us know exactly who voted for who.”

That dynamic is something Thune tacitly acknowledged after the vote, vowing to “be a leader who serves the entire Republican conference.”

“This Republican team is united. We are on one team,” Thune said. “We have a mandate from the American people.”

Eleanor Mueller, Meredith Lee Hill and Caitlin Emma contributed to this report.

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Congress

Massie files to run in 2028 after losing House primary

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GOP Rep. Thomas Massie filed on Monday to run for his Kentucky House seat in 2028, less than a week after losing a primary fight against a challenger backed by President Donald Trump.

Massie became the latest victim of Trump’s revenge tour last week when former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein successfully ousted him in a primary that shattered electoral spending records.

Trump repeatedly railed against Massie, who has broken with the president on several high-profile issues in recent months, including the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran. Massie also helped lead the congressional effort to force Trump to release the federal government’s files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Advertising spending in his primary fight — the most expensive on record — surpassed $32 million as pro-Israel interest groups poured millions into the effort to unseat Massie, who has been an outspoken critic of Israel during his time in Congress.

Massie said in a Monday afternoon statement that the move would allow him “to raise funds to continue my political operations supporting my position as a current office holder and as a potential candidate for federal office,” adding that he had not yet decided which office to seek.

Trump also succeeded in pushing out other Republicans who challenged his leadership in Louisiana and Georgia last week, with GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy and Georgia gubernatorial candidate Brad Raffensperger both losing to Trump-endorsed opponents.

The president also forced out several Indiana state lawmakers who opposed his nationwide redistricting efforts earlier this month, once more proving his iron grip on the party.

But Republicans in Congress and GOP operatives are fretting that Trump’s laserlike focus on vengeance could imperil the party’s legislative agenda ahead of this fall’s midterm elections and potentially cost the GOP control of Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s seat. Trump handed down an eleventh-hour endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week, more than two months after promising to weigh in on the ugly primary fight.

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Khanna expresses disappointment about Massie’s defeat

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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) expressed disappointment Sunday morning that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) lost his primary last week.

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Khanna said of his reaction: “Sadness, disappointment. Thomas is a real friend. He’s a good man.”

Khanna and Massie are very much on opposite ends of the classic left-right ideological spectrum, but they came together to introduce the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requiring the release of files in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. They also joined together to attempt, unsuccessfully, to block U.S. involvement in Iran.

Those efforts, as well as other votes, led President Donald Trump to repeatedly denounce Massie and campaign on behalf of Ed Gallrein, Massie’s challenger in their Kentucky congressional district. Gallrein won the primary last week with approximately 55 percent of the vote.

Speaking to host Kristen Welker, Khanna offered his analysis of Massie’s defeat.

“He was taken out for two reasons,” Khanna said. “One: He had the courage to go after some very powerful people in working with me to get the Epstein Transparency Act passed. As you mentioned, that’s historic bipartisan legislation that finally got justice for the survivors. And he had people spend millions of dollars and had the president of the United States after him.

“And second, he worked with me to stop this war in Iran. So for taking on the Epstein class and taking on war, he basically lost his state. And I admire his courage in taking those positions.”

With talk this weekend of a possible deal with Iran, Khanna said it is time for the war to come to an end.

“The answer to your question is yes. I do believe we need a negotiated deal,” he told Welker.

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Congress

Absent congressmember Tom Kean Jr. starts working the phone

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Rep. Tom Kean Jr., whose two-and-a-half month disappearance has stoked speculation about his health and political future, has begun more actively communicating over the phone.

On Thursday, Kean began calling Republican county chairs in his 7th Congressional District, one of the most competitive in the country in this year’s midterms. The two-term Republican also gave a “lengthy” interview to New Jersey Globe on Thursday afternoon, the first he has granted since he last voted on March 5.

Kean did not respond to a text message from Blue Light News and his voicemail was full Thursday night.

But Kean, 57, gave no details to the Globe on his undisclosed illness, which has kept him out of public view since early March. He said he’s expecting to make a full recovery, that it would not affect his cognitive health, that he plans to run for reelection and that he will publicly discuss his health at an unspecified later date.

“My doctors are confident that I’m on the road to a full recovery,” Kean told New Jersey Globe. “I understand the need for public transparency, and I appreciate the support of my constituents.”

Kean added that he plans to return to voting and campaigning in the next couple weeks. Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), chair of the House GOP’s campaign arm, told reporters Thursday he spoke to Kean and he will be back voting in June.

Kean’s lengthy absence has drawn national media attention, with reporters staking out his home in the wealthy 7th Congressional District, where he faces an extremely competitive reelection, with four Democrats competing in the June 2 primary to take him on in November. His campaign and office staff had repeatedly said that he expects to make a full recovery and would return to work “soon.”

But few people — even Kean’s two fellow New Jersey House Republicans — had recently reported speaking to him. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he spoke to Kean last month.

Kean called Republican chairs in his district on Thursday.

“He sounded good to me. Sounded just as normal as always,” said Carlos Santos, the Republican chair of Union County, where Kean lives.

Santos said that he did not ask Kean about his ailment, and that Kean did not disclose it. But he said Kean confirmed he’s running for reelection and that he has his support.

Tracy DiFrancesco, the GOP chair of Somerset County, also spoke with Kean.

“It was just a simple conversation. He sounded just like Tom always sounds. He sounded perfectly fine. He’s basically back. Hopefully we’re going to see him very soon,” she said. “I think he’s doing well and we’re excited to get back on his campaign.”

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