Republican Sen. Lonnie Paxton will be the chamber's new president pro tem. Sen. Julia Kirt will lead the Democratic caucus

U.S. Senate Republicans elected John Thune to lead the chamber next year, opting for a well-regarded insider and shrugging off a public pressure campaign by supporters of Donald Trump to pick a loyalist to the president-elect.

A Republican state senator from Tuttle has been selected as the next leader of the upper chamber of the Oklahoma Legislature. Members of the Senate’s majority Republican caucus announced Tuesday their selection of Lonnie Paxton as the next Senate president pro tem.

Jack Whitver will continue to lead Republicans in the Iowa Senate as treatment on his brain tumor continues, Iowa Senate Republicans announced Tuesday. The 44-year-old Whitver, from Grimes, was reelected Iowa Senate Majority Leader on Tuesday by his colleagues in the majority.