参议员戴夫·麦考密克（R-宾夕法尼亚州），这位来自关键摇摆州的较为温和的共和党人，支持保守派参议院共和党同僚的呼吁，推迟原定于周二进行的党内领导层选举。麦考密克在周日晚间的声明中写道：“正如我与领袖图恩（Thune）分享的，我认为在我们消化并讨论中期选举的教训以及如何前进之前，不应进行领导层选举。我们需要尽快确定领导层，但周二为时过早。”
Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.), a more moderate Republican from a key battleground state, is endorsing a call by conservative Senate GOP colleagues to delay the party's leadership elections scheduled for Tuesday. “As I’ve shared with Leader Thune, I don’t believe we should move to leadership elections until we have digested and debated the lessons of the midterms and how to move forward," McCormick wrote late Sunday in a statement.
他补充说：“我知道近年来一直直接进行领导层选举，但我们不应仓促行事。”这位宾夕法尼亚州共和党人称上周的中期选举是“数十年来共和党最糟糕的选举结果”。他在网上写道：“我们需要讨论出错之处、如何纠正、我们的立场以及我们的议程必须聚焦美国人民的关切。”
"We need leadership in place fast, but Tuesday is too soon." "I know it’s been the practice to go straight to leadership elections in recent years, but we should not rush it," he added. The Pennsylvania Republican called last week’s midterm election “the worst election result” for Republicans “in decades.”
参议院预算委员会主席罗恩·约翰逊（R-威斯康星州）上周收集了所需的签名，计划于周一向参议院共和党会议主席汤姆·科顿（R-阿肯色州）发送一封信，要求召开会议讨论暂停领导层选举。约翰逊及其同僚写道：“我们需要在会议内部进行严肃讨论，探讨如何改善2028年的选举结果。”他们继续写道：“在没有进行充分讨论和评估参选者如何领导的情况下进行领导层选举，将是政治失职。”
“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," he wrote online. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) last week collected the signatures he needed for a letter he plans to send Monday to Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) demanding a conference meeting to discuss pausing the leadership election. “We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to what we can do to improve the outcome in 2028,” Johnson and his colleagues wrote.
“这绝不是世界上最审慎的议事机构进行领导层选举的方式。”约翰逊希望共和党党团“进行充分的党团讨论，并推迟举行任何领导层选举，直到我们所有人都有机会听取领导层候选人关于我们应采取何种协作式党团治理模式的阐述。”他还指出，共和党参议员需要制定他们的“策略”，以“应对气焰更盛的民主党人”。参议院指导委员会主席迈克·李（共和党-犹他州）也呼吁推迟共和党领导层选举。
“Holding leadership elections without engaging in a robust discussion and evaluation of how those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice," they continued. "It is certainly not the way leadership elections should be conducted in the world’s most deliberative body." Johnson wants the Republican conference to “have a fulsome conference discussion and delay holding any leadership elections until we all have a chance to hear from leadership candidates as to what type of collaborative conference governing model we should adopt.”He also noted that Republicans senators need to map out their “strategy” to “counter the emboldened Democrats.”
“在以下情况发生前，我们无权举行参议院共和党领导层选举：1）我们有充足机会讨论周二发生的事情，以及 2）我们知道谁将进入我们的党团。”李上周在社交平台 X 上发帖称。参议院保守派在 2022 年中期选举和 2024 年总统大选后曾试图推迟共和党领导层选举，但未能说服大多数共和党同僚同意。参议院共和党党团计划于周二上午开会，约翰逊、麦科米克和李将有机会向党团阐述暂停竞选的可能性。
Senate Steering Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) has also called for postponing the Republican leadership election. “We have no business holding Senate Republican leadership elections until: 1) we’ve had ample opportunity to discuss what happened on Tuesday, and 2) we know who’s going to be in our conference,” Lee posted on social platform X last week. Senate conservatives attempted to postpone GOP leadership elections after the 2022 midterm election and the 2024 presidential election but failed to convince a majority of their Republican colleagues to do so. The Senate GOP conference is planning to meet on Tuesday morning and Johnson, McCormick and Lee will have a chance to pitch the caucus on the possibility of halting the contest.
如果他们得不到足够支持以此推迟选举，参议员们将在上午晚些时候为下一届国会的新领导层团队投票。截至目前，参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（共和党-南达科他州）没有面临挑战者，预计将轻松连任。
If they don’t get enough support to do so, the senators will cast their ballots for the new leadership team for the next Congress later in the morning. As of now, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) doesn’t face a challenger and is expected to easily be reelected.