Verified reporting
Verified reporting: where the delay push stands
Senate Republicans are scheduled to meet Tuesday morning, November 10, to elect their leadership team for the next Congress. A group of GOP senators wants that vote put off until the conference has talked through last week's midterm losses.
On Monday morning, Savannah Behrmann wrote on X that Sen. Ron Johnson's letter calling for a delay “has officially been sent” to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton, with five signers: Johnson, Rick Scott, Mike Lee, Ted Budd and John Kennedy. The Washington Examiner, which obtained the letter last Friday, reported that Johnson called it “political malpractice” to hold the closed-door elections so soon after a “stunning defeat.”
Several signers have said so publicly. On Saturday, Sen. John Kennedy posted: “I have signed Sen. Ron Johnson’s letter to postpone Senate Republican leadership elections next Tuesday. Ron needs 5 signatures.” Sen. Mike Lee wrote that Republicans “shouldn’t rush back into Senate leadership elections without having some hard, necessary conversations about how we move forward.” Sen. Rick Scott said he signed the letter on Friday, explaining that good companies “make a plan for success and then hire the best person to get it done, not the other way around.”
Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, who is not among the five reported signers, added his voice Sunday night. In a statement posted to X, he called last week “the worst election results in decades” and wrote: “As I’ve shared with Leader Thune, I don’t believe we should move to leadership elections until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward. We need leadership in place fast, but Tuesday is too soon.” Some accounts on X report that Sen. Jim Banks has also joined the push; we could not find a statement from Banks himself and are not counting him.
Legal / factual context
Context: what the letter can and cannot do
The letter does not by itself cancel or postpone anything. Just the News, citing conference rules, reported that the Senate Republican Policy Committee chair must call a meeting of the conference whenever five or more members request one in writing. That forces a discussion. Whether the vote actually moves is up to the conference.
Andrew Desiderio of Punchbowl News wrote Monday that the meeting “could be held right before the scheduled leadership elections tomorrow morning” and that it is “possible Thune agrees to delay if there’s a groundswell today.” Those are a reporter's hedged expectations, not a decision. As of publication, we found no announcement that the vote has been moved.
No Republican has publicly announced a challenge to Majority Leader John Thune, according to Just the News, which also reported that Republicans lost at least seven Senate seats on November 3. If reelected, Thune would lead Republicans in the minority next Congress. Conservatives tried a similar delay after the 2024 election and did not succeed.
Johnson has framed the issue as one of history. He posted that since 1934, leadership elections have occurred “about 40 days after an election,” but “since 2006, that timeline has shortened to just nine days.” That is the senator's own count, which we have not independently tallied.
Sources and reading
- Savannah Behrmann on X: Johnson letter sent to Conference Chair Cotton with five signers (Nov. 9, 2026, 9:57 AM ET)
Source for the letter being sent and the five signers. - Ron Johnson presses to delay Senate GOP leadership elections: ‘Political malpractice’ (Washington Examiner, Nov. 6, 2026)
Letter language as reported by the outlet that obtained it. - GOP Sen Ron Johnson seeks delay in GOP Senate leadership elections (Just The News, Nov. 6, 2026)
Conference meeting rule, seat losses, no declared challenger, 2024 precedent. - Sen. Dave McCormick statement on X (Nov. 8, 2026)
Primary source for McCormick quotations. - Sen. John Kennedy on X (Nov. 7, 2026)
- Sen. Mike Lee on X (Nov. 7, 2026)
- Sen. Rick Scott on X (Nov. 8, 2026)
- Sen. Ron Johnson on X: leadership election timing (Nov. 7, 2026)
- Andrew Desiderio (Punchbowl News) on X: expected meeting timing (Nov. 9, 2026)
Reporting above is based on the cited records. The section labeled “Our view” is editorial opinion. This article is not legal advice. Our Gadsden Flag is an independent brand, not a government or military organization.
Conservative commentary · Our view
Our View: accountability before coronation
This is not a palace coup, and nobody should pretend it is. It is five senators using a written rule to demand a conversation their party owes the voters who sent them to Washington. That is exactly how a self-governing body is supposed to work.
A party that just suffered its worst defeat in decades should not reelect its entire leadership team nine days later as though nothing happened. Voters who backed Republicans were promised border security, spending restraint, honest elections and an end to business as usual. Too much of that died in the Senate. The SAVE America Act still has not received a floor vote. Before senators hand anyone the gavel again, they should hear plainly what each candidate will do differently with the weeks of majority that remain and with the minority that follows.
McCormick put it well: after a failure, start with “honesty, transparency, and accountability.” That standard applies to every leader, including the ones who raised a lot of money and are well liked in the cloakroom. Being popular with colleagues is not the same as delivering for the country.
A short delay costs almost nothing. The new Congress does not convene until January. A rushed vote, by contrast, tells grassroots conservatives that their anger was noted and filed away. The Founders designed the Senate to deliberate. Senate Republicans should do some of that deliberating about themselves before they vote Tuesday.
If Thune earns the job after a real debate, fine. Let him earn it in the open, on an agenda senators can hold him to. United in Freedom. Defended by Patriots.