两名知名的参议院保守派——参议院指导委员会主席里克·斯科特（共和党-佛罗里达州）和参议员乔希·霍利（共和党-密苏里州）——周一拒绝承诺投票支持参议员约翰·图恩（共和党-南达科他州）连任参议院共和党领袖。此前，共和党在中期选举中至少失去七个席位。斯科特签署了一封信，要求推迟周二的参议院共和党领袖选举。
Two prominent Senate conservatives, Senate Steering Committee Chairman Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), on Monday declined to commit to voting to re-elect Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) as Senate GOP leader after the party lost at least seven seats in the midterm election. Scott, who signed a letter requesting to postpone Tuesday’s Senate Republican leadership election, said GOP colleagues need to define their goals before electing a leader.
他表示，共和党同僚需要先明确目标，再选举领袖。斯科特在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时说：“第一步是，第一，我们想要实现什么？然后任何人，包括约翰·图恩，如果想当（领袖），他们首先要说的是：他们想不想做那件事？”斯科特说：“如果那不是他们想要实现的目标，那我们为什么要选他们？如果那就是他们想要实现的目标，那就告诉我们为什么他们最擅长做这件事。”
“The first step is, one, what do want to accomplish? And then anybody, including John Thune, if they want to be [leader,] the first thing they have to say is: Do they want to do that?”Scott told Fox News Digital in an interview. “If that’s not what they want to accomplish, then why would we elect them? If that’s what they want to accomplish, then tell us why they’re the best at it,” Scott said, explaining why he supported calls to delay the leadership election.
他以此解释自己为何支持推迟领袖选举的呼吁。斯科特表示，领袖选举的时机应取决于参议院共和党人需要多长时间来明确他们在跛脚鸭会期和下一届国会中的目标。他说：“那需要多长时间？我认为第一步是，我们需要多长时间才能就我们的道路达成一致。如果我们能很快做到这一点，之后就可以举行选举。”斯科特和其他四名共和党参议员签署了一封由参议院预算委员会主席罗恩·约翰逊（共和党-威斯康星州）牵头的信，呼吁推迟周二的参议院共和党领袖选举，以便共和党会议能够对今年选举出了什么问题进行“深入讨论”，并评估未来的领导策略。
Scott said the timing of the leadership election should be based on how long it takes for Senate Republicans to define their goals for the lame-duck session and the next Congress. “How long does that take? I think the first step is how long is it going to take us to agree on what our path should be. If we can get that done quickly, we can have elections after that,” he said. Scott and four other Republican senators signed a letter spearheaded by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) calling for a delay of Tuesday’s Senate GOP leadership election so that the Republican conference can have a “robust discussion” of what went wrong in this year’s election and evaluate leadership strategies moving forward.
约翰逊周一对《华盛顿观察家报》表示，如果共和党同僚呼吁快速投票选出下一届国会的领导团队，他将退出周二的领袖会议以示抗议。约翰逊宣称：“如果你们举行选举，我就离开会场。”
Johnson told The Washington Examiner Monday that he would walk out of Tuesday’s leadership meeting in protest if Republican colleagues call for a quick vote to elect the leadership team for the next Congress. “If you hold the election, I’ll leave the room,” Johnson declared.
“我明天不会参加领导层选举投票。”这位冉冉升起的保守派新星霍利周一还对共和党领导层团队表达了一些不满。他在周二共和党党团会议召开前，拒绝承诺支持图恩。“我不会承诺把票投给领导层。我可以告诉你们这一点，”霍利对包括CNN的马努·拉朱在内的一群记者说。
“I’m not going to participate in elections for leadership tomorrow.”Hawley, a rising conservative star, also signaled some dissatisfaction with the Republican leadership team on Monday. He declined to commit to supporting Thune before Tuesday’s meeting of the GOP conference. “I’m not going to pledge my vote to leadership. I’ll tell you that,” Hawley told a group of reporters, including CNN’s Manu Raju. Sens.
参议员迈克·李（共和党-犹他州）、泰德·巴德（共和党-北卡罗来纳州）和约翰·肯尼迪（共和党-路易斯安那州）也签署了要求推迟领导层选举的信函。“在未进行充分讨论和评估竞选领导职务者打算如何领导的情况下举行领导层选举，将是政治渎职。这绝不是世界上最伟大的审议机构进行领导层选举的方式，”他们周一在致参议院共和党会议主席汤姆·科顿（共和党-阿肯色州）的信中写道。
Mike Lee (R-Utah), Ted Budd (R-N.C.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) also signed the letter demanding a delay of the leadership election. “Holding leadership elections without engaging in a roust discussion and evaluation of hos those running for leadership intend to lead would be political malpractice. It is certainly not the way leadership elections should be conducted in the world’s greatest deliberative body,” they wrote in a letter Monday to Senate GOP Conference Chairman Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).