Senate Republicans voted 31-15 on Tuesday to move forward with their leadership election, turning aside a conservative-led effort to postpone the contest after the party’s midterm losses.

The vote took place during a closed-door Senate Republican conference meeting. A group of conservatives led by Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin had sought a delay to give GOP senators more time to discuss the results of last week’s midterm elections.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who is expected to be elected to lead Republicans in the minority next year, questioned what the party would gain by putting off the vote. No other Republicans had stepped forward to challenge him.

The decision allows the conference to proceed with choosing its leadership despite the concerns raised by Johnson and his allies. Their push reflected a desire among some conservatives to take more time to assess the party’s midterm performance before settling on its leaders.

Senior Republicans had predicted that the effort to delay the election would be defeated. The 31-15 vote confirmed that a majority of the conference favored moving ahead.