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Mitch McConnell is retiring, prompting an election in the GOP Senate caucus to select a new leader. For reasons that were not clear to me, Florida’s Rick Scott was the favorite of some MAGA Republicans. But the caucus elected John Thune, who served as Whip under McConnell.

In an interview with Breitbart, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson had some strikingly candid comments about the contest for Majority Leader. I have a lot of respect for Johnson, a successful businessman who is serving in politics out of principle and has three times overcome underdog status to win Senate elections in Wisconsin:

“John Thune is not Mitch McConnell. I think what was interesting about our candidate forum the Monday night before the vote is it was pretty much repudiation of Mitch McConnell’s one man dictatorship,” the senator revealed. “It truly was. I mean, there was not much of a difference in terms of how Cornyn, Thune, or Rick Scott spoke, in terms of how they wanted to be a leader,” he said, describing all three of them as “far more collaborative, engaging the conference in developing a strategy, us knowing what the strategy was, no surprises, supporting President Trump, his nominees, [and] his agenda.”

“So that’s what they all said. The conference chose John Thune. I like John. He’s a smart guy. He’s an articulate guy. I’ll do everything I can to help him succeed because he’s committed to helping President Trump succeed. So we move forward,” he said, noting he was a “big supporter” of Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL). But “not because I dislike John Thune and John Cornyn,” he said.

This is the part that I find remarkable:

Speaking of McConnell at the end of the interview, Johnson pointed out that the 82 year old “never sought leverage in all these funding battles” because he actually liked the spending.

“Quite honestly,” he said, “he didn’t really mind…spending” and pointed out “the now $36 trillion in debt under his watch.”

While I don’t claim to be a close personal friend, I have known Thune casually for quite a while. He is a rock-solid conservative, and if McConnell really did have such a casual attitude toward spending, and with the GOP now possessing a three-vote majority, I hope we will see a notable turn to the right in the Senate.