Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has chosen four informal advisers to add to his leadership team, a list that includes his former rival for GOP leader: Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX).
Cornyn and three others — Sens. Steve Daines (R-MT), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) — will attend Thune’s weekly leadership meetings, according to an aide, as he settles into the position long held by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
Cornyn, who mounted an unsuccessful run for leader in November, served as an adviser to McConnell in the last Congress, while Daines attended the meetings as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
But the changeover in leadership has given an opportunity to additional faces in the Senate GOP conference. Blackburn is most closely aligned with the conservative bloc of Senate Republicans, while Mullin was a deputy whip to Thune and among the first to endorse his run for leader.
The group collectively is notable for its alignment with President-elect Donald Trump, with Mullin seen as a bridge to both Trumpworld and the House. Daines’s close relationship with Trump is credited with helping Republicans retake the Senate in 2024.
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The new crop will join elected leadership at Monday’s meetings in Thune’s office as Republicans prepare for Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The Senate must quickly process Trump’s Cabinet nominees across the Senate floor before turning its attention to reconciliation bills that will unlock most of the GOP’s agenda.
Thune’s elected leadership team includes Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-AR), Policy Committee Chairwoman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), and NRSC Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC).
