Although Alabama's senior U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) has already announced U.S. Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) as his preferred pick for Senate majority leader, he recently expressed no interest in trying to sway the opinion of his junior colleague Katie Britt (R-Montgomery).
The U.S. Senate will hold a secret ballot election to pick the new leader after the GOP took the majority during last week's general election.
Tuberville, along with the who's who of President-elect Donald Trump's supporters, has already announced that they favor Scott over the two other leading picks, U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and John Thune (R-S.D.).
Meanwhile, Britt's team said she was reserving her pick until after a forum hosted by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday.
On a Monday appearance on Talk 99.5's "The Line" with Andrew Mclain, Tuberville reaffirmed his Scott pick, stating that he did not know which direction Britt was leaning and was not interested in trying to sway her vote.
"She'll make a decision on her own," Tuberville said. "Again, it's not about her; it's not about me, it's about representing the people. And again, she'll have to make that decision."
Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) determined that the election would be conducted by secret ballot. McConnell appointed Britt to his leadership team after securing his position in 2023. According to Tuberville, Britt has participated in leadership meetings held in McConnell's Capitol office every Monday.
"She was on leadership team. I say 'leadership,' I don't know what she did, but she was in all the leadership meetings, which they meet every Monday going into session during the week, and they kind of come up with the ideas that they want to push towards us and the direction that they want us to vote," Tuberville continued. But again, it's up to her. I'm not going to try to persuade her anyway. Because, again, she was elected like I was, and you've got to feel like you're representing your people. We'll see what she does. Again, I'm not going to speculate, but we'll just have to wait and see how the vote goes. Because the vote is a secret ballot, but it will get out; it will get out pretty quick. So we'll see what happens.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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