Thune was expected to win, given that he remains popular with his GOP colleagues and ran unopposed in the secret ballot election.
Thune, who replaced Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as leader in early 2025, said before the meeting that they would have a “very fulsome, robust conversation about where we go from here and then we’ll see what the consensus of the conference is.”
During Tuesday's meeting, Republicans in the meeting called on Thune to stay in session around the clock in the coming weeks to push through war spending and other party priorities before they lose power.
