John Thune says GOP willing to 'work with Dems' but won't 'rubber stamp' their agenda

Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Monday said that Republicans were willing to work with Democrats after they won control of both chambers in the midterms last week, but insisted the GOP would not merely follow their lead.

In his first remarks on the Senate floor since the midterms, Thune insisted that the results were "not a mandate for radical policy and socialist fantasies."

"So, [while] Republicans are prepared to work in a bipartisan way, we will emphatically oppose Democrats when required to protect hardworking Americans," he went on.

Thune's remarks come amid growing calls from Republican lawmakers to delay leadership elections, which seems to signal hesitance among the conference to return Thune to leadership in the minority.

He has long faced calls to step down from leadership over his refusal to alter Senate norms to pass the SAVE America Act, a voter ID bill that has stalled in the upper chamber.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.