Exclusive: Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said he is focusing on campaigning this year because it’s his “best opportunity” to retake the Senate majority.
“This is really a make-or-break moment for Senate Republicans. If we don’t get this done this time, the next two election cycles are not going to be good for us,” Thune said in an exclusive national interview with Fox News.
“We have to make the most of this opportunity to get above 50,” said Thune, the Senate Minority Whip and the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, adding that “it would be great if we could get well above 50.”
Senate Republican Campaign Committee Chairman speaks to Fox News about regaining the majority
Senate Minority Whip John Thune (Scotland-certified) campaigned for Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Monday.
Democrats are trying to maintain or expand their fragile 51-49 majority. In the Senateis fighting tooth and nail to protect 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs in November.
One of those seats is in heavily Republican West Virginia, a state that former President Trump won by nearly 40 points in 2020. Republicans are all but certain to retake the seat because moderate Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin (a former governor) is not seeking reelection.
Republicans are also hoping to retake Ohio and Montana, congressional seats that Trump handily won four years ago, and five Democratic seats up for grabs this year are in key battleground states for the general election.
“We have the White House and we want Trump to be successful. If we have the House and we have the Senate then we’ll be in a position to take some action,” Thune said.
Six key Senate seats Republicans want to retake in November
Thune said he was helping raise funds and campaign for Republican Senate candidates challenging incumbent Democrats, doing all he could “to help as many candidates as possible win.”
The senator, who is one of the leading candidates to succeed longtime Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down as leader at the end of the year, was interviewed ahead of two days of campaigning in Pennsylvania earlier this week along with GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
“I’ve been out with a lot of candidates,” he said.
South Dakota Sen. John Thune (right) campaigned with Pennsylvania Republican Senate candidate Dave McCormick (left) in Lebanon, Pennsylvania on Monday. (Friends of John Toon)
Thune said he campaigned in Arizona, Michigan and Ohio earlier this summer and attended six fundraisers for Republican Senate candidates in the nation’s capital last week before heading to Minnesota on Thursday to headline a fundraiser for Eric Hovde, a Republican Senate candidate in neighboring Wisconsin.
And he said he plans to head to Nevada and Utah later this month.
“I’m doing whatever I can to help the team, and a lot of it is just putting money in the bank so they can get their message out,” he said.
As is customary in a presidential election year, the battle for the top candidates could also have ramifications for the Senate race just below them.
Asked how the change in the Democratic Party’s top candidate from President Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris would affect the Senate elections, Thune said, “There’s no question this is a new race, and Senate candidates will have to do their best to benefit from the moves of the top candidates.”
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But he also stressed that “the problems are still the same and I think it’s going to be very difficult.” [Harris] “They’re trying to distance themselves from the border issue and the inflationary spiral that their policies have created… I think those issues are going to weigh on voters’ minds. So, if that’s an issue, I think we’re very well positioned to win, and that should help the lower-level elections as well.”
Thune stressed that Republican Senate candidates “need to run their own campaigns, to define their opponents and to define themselves in contrast. I’ve always said that this election is about differences and the differences between the two parties couldn’t be sharper. I think our candidates have to take full advantage of that.”
Trump, the leading candidate, has increasingly attacked and insulted Harris over the past two weeks.
But Thune warned Senate candidates to stay on the issue and not “take the bait” of the presidential election.
Republicans squandered a golden opportunity in 2022 to reclaim the Senate majority they lost in the 2020 elections. But Thune stressed that “our side has done a much better job targeting voters this time around, getting many more voters to the polls than two years ago.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke to reporters after meeting with Republican senators at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 4. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Regarding his challenge to succeed McConnell against longtime Senate Republican leader Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, Thune said he has “talked to all of the current senators about leadership positions and also campaigned with these candidates, which has helped me build relationships that I think will be important when the votes come up.”
Thune, who served in the Senate for 20 years, touted his legislative record and said, “I think the public is going to want leadership that can deliver results and get things done.”
“We’re hopeful that when the time comes we’ll be able to make that case,” he added. “For now, we’re just working on getting a majority.”
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