(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk moved to make demands of the next Senate Republican leader, potentially scrambling a race that has been expected to go to one of Mitch McConnell’s longtime allies.
Trump insisted the next Republican leader endorse letting him make recess appointments bypassing the Senate, which Musk quickly said was essential to accomplishing Trump’s agenda.
Musk then endorsed Florida Senator Rick Scott, a longtime Trump ally and McConnell critic, for the leader job, after Scott backed Trump’s demand. Musk also has posted a poll asking his followers who should replace McConnell, who isn’t running for another term atop the GOP in Wednesday’s secret-ballot election.
Naming officials while the Senate is out of session, a mechanism known as recess appointments, allows presidents to work around the Senate’s role in confirming appointees. The process is much faster, but also eliminates public hearings on nominees’ positions and qualifications.
Speaking on Fox & Friends Monday morning, Scott said he was “very optimistic.”
Scott said he is confident of prevailing whether Trump backs him with a public endorsement or not.
“I believe I’m going to win, because I represent exactly what the Trump team wants and what Trump wants and what the American public wants,” he said.
The two favorites to lead Senate Republicans — GOP Whip John Thune and former whip John Cornyn — vowed on Musk’s X social platform to accelerate confirmations of Trump’s cabinet.
Cornyn reiterated he would keep the Senate in session every day until the cabinet is confirmed, while Thune said “all options are on the table,” including recess appointments.
Senate leaders typically guard the chamber’s role in confirming — or rejecting — a president’s appointments, but the often drawn-out process has frustrated presidents of both parties.
Thune faces potential blowback over his prior strong criticisms of Trump, including in the wake of Trump’s impeachment trial on charges he incited the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. Some gun rights advocates harbor resentments against Cornyn for compromise gun legislation he negotiated with Democrats.
The focus on the next GOP leader has become an early test of Trump’s relationship with the Senate, where several still-sitting Republicans voted to convict him in his impeachment trial and many others — most notably McConnell — have harshly criticized his behavior or oppose some of his key economic policies, like his proposals for sweeping global tariffs.
Thune has publicly urged Trump to stay out of the race, suggesting that would be in the president’s best interest.
Scott ran against McConnell two years ago and lost badly, and it’s not clear he could get a majority of Republicans on his side even if Trump endorsed him.
Cornyn and Thune have both been angling for the top job for years, developing relationships and raising millions of dollars to support fellow Republican senators.
Under existing rules, Democrats can’t block Trump’s picks without Republican defections, but they can slow them down, something Republicans including Vice President-elect JD Vance have done routinely to protest the Biden administration’s actions.
(Adds quotes from Senator Scott from fifth paragraph)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.