Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said Sunday that Sen. John Thune (R-S.C.) will “be a great leader” for the Senate as Republicans in the upper chamber prepare for a return to power.

“I’ve known John Thune since the 1980s, he’s gonna be a great leader,” Rounds told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt on “The Hill Sunday.”

“But the nice thing for Republicans is we’ve got three really quality individuals that are vying for the top office as the majority leader, and so, I’ve got nothing bad to say about any of the other two candidates, but I think we’ve got a real winner in John Thune,” he added.

Thune is facing off against Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) for long-serving Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) position. Republicans are also set to take control of the Senate in January due to the results of Tuesday’s election.

“And here’s part of the deal,” Rounds said in his “The Hill Sunday” appearance. “He wants change in the Senate. He wants the Senate to actually get back and actually work. Let’s actually try to get some things done on time for a change.”

Thune has recently been pushing President-elect Trump to not intervene in the race for leadership of the Senate Republicans, and has said that it is in the president-elect’s “best interests” to not take a side.

However, those supporting Cornyn and Scott have said that requests for Trump to steer clear of the race to replace McConnell signal anxiety from Thune about the president-elect possibly backing his rivals.

“He’s terrified. He knows that Trump won’t endorse him. If he knows that, then Trump getting involved hurts him,” a Senate Republican aide said.

The Hill has reached out to Scott’s and Cornyn’s offices for comment.

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