GOP luncheon turns nasty as Republican senators 'pile on' Mike Lee over voter ID: report

[applegrove]

GOP luncheon turns nasty as Republican senators 'pile on' Mike Lee over voter ID: report (GOP Civil War?)

David Edwards
June 17, 2026 3:53PM ET

https://www.rawstory.com/republicans-pile-on-mike-lee/?u=14b9c1c85c73f212f0988a0f4c63bb3128af99fb134cc95f3cd53e0dd8dbb47c&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Jun.17.2026_8.01pm_18615777

Republican senators reportedly ganged up on Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) at a closed-door Republican lunch Wednesday over his push to keep the Senate in session until a voter ID bill passes.

Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and John Kennedy (R-LA) led what one source described to Punchbowl News reporter Andrew Desiderio as a "pile-on" against the Utah Republican during the closed-door lunch meeting.

Cornyn and Kennedy challenged Lee on his strategy for passing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. They complained that President Donald Trump was being led to believe the Senate could pass it — fueling what Desiderio described as Republicans attacking each other and Trump undermining his own agenda.

"Mike, I am a co-sponsor and have repeatedly voted for this but you don't have the votes," Cornyn wrote, tagging Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). "Try focusing on Democrats instead of Republicans. Republican on Republican attacks are hurting our chances to win the majority in November."

[chowder66]

1. Supporting a rapist is what's hurting your "chances".

[no_hypocrisy]

2. What's really going on:

Delusional thinking that there are enough Republicans in the Senate to pass the SAVE Act.

But there aren't.

And if there's a vote and it fails: each Republican who votes for it will be on record and that could affect re-election. Because senators are elected by both Democrats and Republicans and Independents. The Independents are the ones you have to watch out for.

[lostnfound]

3. It's so much worse than a "voter ID bill". Uninformed framing by RawStory. Nt