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Virginia’s U.S. senators, Democrats Mark R. Warner and Timothy M. Kaine, said Thursday that they had voted against keeping Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada as the leader of their party’s caucus.

Reid, the former Senate majority leader, retained his leadership role Thursday in a vote of the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Reid will now be Senate minority leader because Republicans won enough seats Nov. 4 to take control of the chamber.

No Democrat ran against Reid on Thursday, so Warner and Kaine essentially lodged protest votes.

“I was one of the ‘no’ votes,” Warner said in a statement.

“The message I heard on the campaign trail was that Virginians are frustrated with the dysfunction and gridlock that has become the status quo in Washington.

“That has to change. We need an open process where we debate and vote on the serious issues we face, and I have been encouraged by statements from both leaders” — Reid and new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — “that they are determined to make the United States Senate a functioning body once again,” Warner said.

“The American people are demanding it; we owe them no less.”