John Thune Rises to the Senate Top

John Randolph Thune entered the Senate by defeating a Senate leader in an epic race two decades ago.Now he is going to be the leader of the place himself.Mr.

Thune, 63, the telegenic senator from South Dakota, will take over as majority leader in January, heading a new Senate Republican majority of at least 52 in tandem with the incoming Trump administration — a challenging assignment for a veteran, let alone a newcomer, to lead a sometimes unruly group.But in picking Mr.Thune, who is currently No.

2 in the party leadership, over Senator John Cornyn of Texas in a very competitive race, Senate Republicans showed that they wanted a consensus builder and a younger messenger with a new style as the 18-year-tenure of Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky comes to a close.They also repudiated Senator Rick Scott of Florida, the favorite of the MAGA faction, showing that in private at least, they prefer to stick with a seasoned establishment figure over one who pitched himself as the most loyal to President-elect Donald J.Trump.“For a lot of people, it was the sense of comfort with John Thune being able to represent what we believe,” said fellow South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds after the lengthy closed-door, secret-ballot session.

“John Thune has consistently done that, and he’s done it during a time in which President Trump was also in office before.”Mr.Thune may be at the top of the Senate shortly, but it was not an easy path for the star high school athlete who grew up in tiny Murdo, S.D., and started his political career as a junior aide to South Dakota Senator James Abdnor.

He also for a time ran the state Republican Party and the municipal league.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify acces...