U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) responded to questions from reporters Monday about whether she would endorse former President Donald Trump (R) for president again by saying that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is the current leader of the Republican Party.
Lummis made the remarks while talking about the Republican Party’s underperformance in midterm elections last week and the upcoming U.S. Senate runoff race in Georgia between Herschel Walker (R) and Raphael Warnock (D).
Politico reporter Burgess Everett asked Lummis if she would endorse Trump for office again ahead of his expected announcement tomorrow that he will run for president in 2024.
“I don’t think that’s the right question. The question is: who is the current leader of the Republican Party? Oh, I know who it is: Ron DeSantis,” Lummis answered. “Ron DeSantis is the leader of the Republican Party, whether he wants to be or not.”
Another reporter quoted Lummis as saying, “In my opinion, the current leader of the Republican Party is Ron DeSantis.”
Other Republican senators have made similar remarks in recent days, including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), who was asked over the weekend whether Trump should “remain the leader of the Republican Party.”
“When the party — when any party is out of power, as Republicans are now, we don’t have a single leader,” Cotton said. “The former president is obviously very popular with many of our voters. But we also have important other leaders as well, like some of those victors I just mentioned earlier, like Brian Kemp in Georgia, Ron DeSantis in Florida.”
“Last year, you had Glenn Youngkin have a great victory in a bluish Democratic state like Virginia,” he continued. “I hope to remain a leader in the United States Senate as well, in addition to people like some of those I just mentioned who were re-elected, like Tim Scott. So, when you’re in opposition, you don’t have a single leader. That won’t be the case until we’re through the ’24 nominating season, and we have — we have a new nominee.”
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