Sen. Dave McCormick said the GOP needs more time to digest the ‘worst election results in decades’
Pennsylvania's top elected Republican official called for a delay in electing new Senate GOP leaders.
WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania’s top elected Republican said his party needs time to digest what just happened.
After Republicans lost control of both chambers of Congress in a rout last week, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick has urged his party to take a close look at its mistakes and not rush to select new leadership on Capitol Hill.
“One of the things I learned in business and the Army is that after a failure, you have to start with honesty, transparency, and accountability,” McCormick said in a statement Sunday night. “A week ago, we had the worst election results in decades. We need a discussion about what went wrong, how we fix it, what we stand for, and how our agenda must focus on the concerns of the American people.”
McCormick said he’d spoken with Senate Majority Leader John Thune to tell him that Senate Republicans should not move forward with their internal leadership elections as scheduled on Tuesday.
“We need leadership in place fast,” but not until “we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward,” McCormick said.
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McCormick’s statement — his first public comment about the midterm election results — came as federal lawmakers started gathering in Washington to begin transitioning from Republican to Democratic control. Both parties were set to meet to elect their leaders in the Senate and House while also voting on legislation that would otherwise expire at the end of the year.
Thune has said he will seek to remain the Republican leader when his part shifts to the minority — unlike House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said he would not try to remain in GOP leadership.
McCormick hasn’t said if he will support an alternative to Thune. U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, and Jim Banks, of Indiana, also did not immediately propose another leader as they sought to delay the vote, following Democratic wins in every competitive Senate race as well as some additional and stunning upsets, such as in South Carolina.
In a statement after the losses, Thune said his caucus would “not stand idly by” as Democrats “unwind everything we’ve done.” He indicated President Donald Trump would act as a backstop, though he and the president have clashed over parts of the White House’s agenda, such as election reform. Trump has not said whether Senate Republicans should keep him as their leader.
Two races — in Alaska and Mississippi — were not yet called on Monday. If the Democratic nominees keep their leads in those states, their party would enter 2027 with a 56-44 majority.
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Republicans have had a 53-47 majority in the last two years. The significant swing is widely seen as a repudiation of Trump, the war in Iran and the economy.
McCormick is a staunch Trump ally who has supported the war and the president’s economic agenda. Ahead of Election Day, he campaigned for other Trump-aligned candidates in Pennsylvania. He also campaigned in Michigan for Republican U.S. Senate nominee Mike Rogers, whose Democratic opponent — now U.S. Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed — McCormick referred to as radical and “anti-American.”
When the new session begins and the newly elected Democrats are sworn in on Jan. 3, McCormick will be in the minority for the first time. He was elected in 2024, narrowly beating longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey as Trump won Pennsylvania and returned to the White House.
