Barrasso says he’s locked down enough votes to become Senate GOP whip

Senate Republican Conference Chair John Barrasso (Wyo.) says he has locked down enough votes to become the next Senate Republican whip in 2025.

Barrasso, who was often mentioned as a potential candidate for Senate Republican leader, instead focused his efforts over the past week on rounding up enough support for the No. 2 elected member spot in Senate GOP leadership.

That title is now occupied by Senate Republican Whip John Thune (S.D.), who is running to take over Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (Ky.) top spot.

Barrasso confirmed Wednesday that he believes a majority of the Senate GOP conference will vote for him.

“They’ve seen the job that I’ve done as chairman of the policy committee, they’ve seen the job that I’ve done now for the last six years as the chairman of the conference in terms of making sure the information they got was credible, reliable, accurate, timely, things that they could use to be successful at home and successful in D.C.,” he said.

“Overwhelmingly, I’ve gotten the support of every member,” he said.

Barrasso has served as chair of the Senate Republican Conference since January 2019.

Before then, he served as chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

If elected whip, Barrasso would follow in the footsteps of Thune, who served as Senate GOP conference chair from 2012 to 2019.