Senate Minority Whip John Thune announced Saturday he’ll run for another term after weeks of suspense over whether the Republican was ready to call it quits.
Despite the urging of his wife Kimberly, who, Thune told a local news outlet, is “done with it,” the South Dakotan is poised to return to the Senate for six more years. He faces little-known challengers so far and is well funded, with a campaign war chest of nearly $15 million.
“South Dakota deserves a strong and effective senator who can deliver the results they expect,” he said Saturday. “I am uniquely positioned to get that job done, and I look forward to earning the support of all South Dakotans in the 2022 election for U.S. Senate.”
Thune turned 61 on Friday. He made the announcement in his hometown of Murdo, South Dakota, where he launched his successful campaign for the state’s lone U.S. House seat in 1996.
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Thune’s decision to remain in Congress maintains the state’s small GOP political hierarchy, and it leaves him in a strong position to rise in the Senate ranks to Republican leader, a position now held by Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell.
McConnell, who turns 80 in February, has given no indication that he’s planning to retire. McConnell was reelected in 2020 to the Senate seat he first won in 1984, leaving him with nearly five years left in his current term. But jockeying has occurred behind the scenes among lawmakers hoping to succeed him, and Thune is a top candidate. He was the majority whip for a two-year term before Republicans lost control of the Senate in early 2021, relegating him to the role of minority whip.
Thune had earned the admiration of McConnell and other GOP lawmakers for his even-handed communication skills and leadership of the 50-strong GOP conference.
Like McConnell, Thune became a target of former President Donald Trump for refusing to support Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election.
Trump months ago threatened to back a primary challenger to Thune in his deep-red state, which backed Trump over Biden in 2020 by a margin of 26 percentage points.
Trump has labeled Thune a “RINO” or “Republican In Name Only” and called him “Mitch’s boy” after Thune worked with McConnell to tamp down Senate efforts to challenge the Electoral College results in 2020.
Thune, Trump warned at the time, “will be primaried” in 2022.
But as of now, no formidable challenger has materialized, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, the only real threat, announced months ago she would not run against Thune. Noem is instead seeking reelection as governor in 2022.
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There is little chance a Democrat could win Thune’s seat.
He won in 2016 with 71% of the vote and ran unopposed in 2010.
So far, three Republicans, none with wide name recognition, and one Democrat announced they plan to run for the seat.
On Capitol Hill, the race to succeed McConnell will be more challenging.
Along with Thune, top candidates include Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, who has also been majority whip, and Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who is the chairman of the GOP Conference.
Other members of the leadership team who may be interested in the post include Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, who chairs the campaign arm, and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the conference’s vice chairwoman.
In the weeks leading up to Thune’s announcement, fellow Senate Republicans had urged Thune to run again, arguing he would be safe from a Trump-backed primary opponent. South Dakota Republicans also pushed Thune to run, fearing the loss of his outsize influence in Congress on behalf of their state.
Thune first rose to political stardom after an improbable 2004 victory over Democrat Tom Daschle, minority leader and a senator since 1987. Thune was out of office at the time, having narrowly lost a 2002 Senate bid after six years in the House.
McConnell, in a December Fox News interview, said he, too, wanted Thune to remain in the Senate.
“His party needs him in the Senate, and the country needs him in the Senate,” McConnell said.
