Senate Republicans elect South Dakota Sen. John Thune as the Majority Leader

UPDATE (1:14 PM): Senator John Thune of South Dakota held a press conference Wednesday afternoon after Senate Republicans elected him to be the next Majority Leader.

"It's a new day in the United States Senate, and it's a new day in America. The American people have loudly rejected the failed policies of the Biden-Harris-Schumer agenda. And this Republican team is united. We are on one team. We are excited to reclaim the majority, and to get to work with our colleagues in the House to enact President Trump's agenda.

We'll make sure that the President and his team have the tools and the support that they need to enforce border security laws and to remove the violent criminals who are wreaking havoc in every one of our states. We will work to make America prosperous again by streamlining the bureaucratic machine and overturning costly Biden-Harris regulations. And we will work to restore American energy dominance...not just our energy security but energy dominance, which will lower costs and bolster our national security.

I'm excited to get to work with this team right away, and I want to thank my colleagues who placed their faith in me to serve as leader, and to those who were supporting another candidate, I promise to be a leader who serves the entire Republican conference. We'll have an ambitious agenda, and it will take each and every Republican working together to be successful."

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Majority Leader-Elect

(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Senate Republicans elected Senator John Thune of South Dakota to be their leader in the next Congress.

Thune will replace Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who is stepping down from party leadership after a record 18-year tenure.

Senator Thune ran against two other senators for leader, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, a former whip, and Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who just won a second term.

The senators met behind closed doors Wednesday to vote by secret ballot and, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the vote, Senator Scott was eliminated after a first round of balloting.

The race then came down to Senators Cornyn and Thune in the second ballot, with Thune winning by a vote of 29 to 24.

Senator Thune released a statement Wednesday, saying in part, "I am extremely honored to have earned the support of my colleagues to lead the Senate…This Republican team is united behind President Trump's agenda, and our work starts today."