Mike Lee, John Curtis congratulate new Senate Majority Leader John Thune, after Sen. Lee pushed for reform

Senate Republicans elected Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., to the chamber’s top leadership position on Wednesday in a secret ballot vote following a candidate forum focused on reforming Senate procedure moderated by Utah Sen. Mike Lee.
Thune came within four votes of winning a majority of Senate GOP members, and members-elect, in the first round of voting that pitted the current GOP whip against the party’s previous No. 2 man, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.
Thune cracked the 27-vote threshold in the second round with 29 votes to Cornyn’s 24. Scott was eliminated in the first round after securing the support of 13 of his colleagues, likely including Lee who officially endorsed Scott on Tuesday night.
“I am glad that Sen. Thune committed to improve the way our conference works,” Lee said in a statement given to the Deseret News. “I congratulate Sen. Thune on his victory today, and look forward to achieving more victories for the American people under his leadership.”
Unlike Lee’s closest Senate colleagues — including Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis. — Utah’s senior senator delayed making his endorsement of Scott public in an effort to spark conversation among all three candidates about how they would restructure Senate rules to empower individual members and facilitate Trump’s agenda.
Lee officiated a question-and-answer session between majority leader hopefuls and Senate members, including senators-elect like Utah Rep. John Curtis, on Tuesday evening centered around a list of core demands Lee had presented as chair of the Senate steering committee, a group of 15-20 conservative senators.
In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s vote, Lee called on the next majority leader to reverse trends from Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s 18-year tenure as Senate GOP leader that centralized legislative power. Lee proposed reforms to create a binding budget schedule, craft concrete policy goals for the GOP caucus and carve out four weeks to debate and amend spending packages.
After Trump reclaimed the presidency and Senate Republicans retook Congress’ upper chamber, many of the most influential online allies of President-elect Donald Trump quickly coalesced around Scott as their chosen Senate leader.
Some within Trump’s inner circle, like Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tucker Carlson, ignited an internet firestorm with their endorsements of Scott as the most loyal to Trump’s policy vision and their condemnation of Scott’s opponents as establishment politicians.
While Lee’s preferred candidate failed to gather consensus support among senators, many of whom are unlikely to be swayed by social media pressure campaigns, he said his efforts to spur reform have not gone to waste.
”The reform agenda advanced by Rick Scott gathered the support of millions of Americans who just voted to bring Donald Trump back to the White House, and changed the conversation on Capitol Hill,” Lee said. “The field of play for this race was influenced by Americans all across the country who want to see a better Washington and reform the way they’re represented in the U.S. Senate.”
Later, in a post to his personal account on X, Lee predicted that the ideas emerging from the debate he facilitated “will benefit the country for years to come.”
Curtis did not reveal who he would vote for in the leadership race. But prior to the leadership election, Curtis said the central factor to his vote was the ability to unite Republicans to achieve progress on issues like border security and deficit reduction.
Even before he won Utah’s open Senate seat, Curtis told the Deseret News he had been in frequent contact with Cornyn and Thune, who were always seen as favorites to succeed McConnell. Curtis described having multiple phone calls with both candidates, in addition to hosting Thune during his August visit to Utah and receiving over $220,500 from Cornyn’s Victory Committee PAC this election cycle.
In a statement to the Deseret News, Curtis, who has served for seven years as Utah’s 3rd District congressman, reiterated his desire to see the next Senate leader unite the GOP conference.
“The infighting I witnessed in the House derailed our efforts to achieve key goals: reining in spending, cutting inflation, lowering energy and food costs, holding China accountable, and unleashing American energy. We can’t let that happen in the Senate,” Curtis said.
“We now have the leadership that can work with the president, unify our diverse coalition, and move forward on these priorities. It’s the team that can focus, act, and deliver results. Go. Fight. Win.”
On Wednesday, Senate Republicans filled out the rest of conference leadership, electing: