Exclusive: GOP Senator John Thune South Dakota Senator John McCain said he is stepping up his campaign efforts this year because “this is our golden opportunity” to win back the Senate majority.
“This is a really defining moment for Republicans in the Senate. If we don’t get this done this time, the next two cycles are not going to be good for us,” Thune said in an exclusive national interview with Fox News.
Thun, who Senate Minority Whip The second-ranking Republican in the House stressed that “we have to take full advantage of the opportunity we have this time to get to 50,” adding that “it would be great to get to 50.”
What did the Senate GOP campaign committee chairman tell Fox News about winning back the majority?
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., Senate Minority Whip, campaigns on behalf of Pennsylvania GOP Senate nominee Dave McCormick in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
Democrats, trying to maintain or expand their fragile 51-49 majority In the SenateThey are adopting a very defensive stance in order to win 23 out of 34 seats in the elections to be held in November.
One of these seats is in West Virginia, a deep red state that former President Trump won by nearly 40 points in 2020. Moderate Democrat-turned-independent Senator Joe Manchin, a former governor, is not running for re-election, so it’s a near certainty for the GOP to win the seat.
Republicans are also trying to pick up seats in Ohio and Montana, two states that Trump won easily four years ago. And five more seats held by Democrats this year are in crucial general election states.
“We hope that we the White HouseThune insisted, “I believe Trump will be successful, and the House, and if we can win the Senate, we’ll be in a position to do some things.”
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Thune says he’s “doing everything we can” to raise money and campaign on behalf of Republican Senate candidates challenging incumbent Democrats “to get as many of these folks across the finish line as possible.”
The senator — who has long been one of the two top contenders to succeed the Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who is stepping down from his leadership post at the end of the year — was interviewed earlier this week ahead of a two-day campaign tour in Pennsylvania with GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick.
“I’ve been out with a lot of candidates,” he said.
South Dakota Senator John Thune (right) campaigns with Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick (left) in Lebanon, Pennsylvania on Monday. (Friend of John Thune)
Thune said he campaigned in Arizona, Michigan and Ohio earlier this summer, and he attended six fundraising events for Republican Senate candidates in the nation’s capital last week before heading to Minnesota on Thursday to head to another finance-related event for Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde in neighboring Wisconsin.
He said he would visit Nevada and Utah later this month.
“We’ll do whatever we can to help the team, and a big part of that is putting money in the bank so they can get their message across,” he said.
As is tradition in presidential election years, fights at the top of the ticket can impact Senate races one rung down the ballot.
Asked how Vice President Kamala Harris replacing President Biden at the top of the Democrats’ ticket would affect the Senate race, Thune said, “There’s no doubt that this is a new race, and our Senate candidates are going to have to be at their best to benefit from whatever happens at the top of the ticket.”
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But he also stressed, “I still think the issues are the same, and I think it will be very difficult for (Harris) to distance herself from the problem of the border and the inflation that her policies have created… I think those issues are going to weigh heavily on voters’ minds. So if it comes down to issues, I think we’re well positioned to win and that will help with turnout as well.”
Thune highlighted that Republican Senate candidates “should run their own campaigns and define their opponents and define themselves in a way that creates a contrast. I’ve always believed that elections are about differences, and the differences between the two parties couldn’t be more pronounced… I think our candidates should take advantage of that.”
At the top of the ticket, Trump has repeatedly attacked And he’s been insulting Harris for the last two weeks.
But Thune is cautioning Senate candidates not to stray from the issues and fall prey to the lure of a presidential race.
Republicans missed a great opportunity to regain the Senate majority in 2022, which they lost in the 2020 elections. But Thune emphasized that “our side is doing a much better job this time around of targeting voters and making sure we’re getting people out to vote in a much better way than we were two years ago.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, speaks to reporters after meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on June 4. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Regarding his race to replace McConnell against longtime Texas senator John Cornyn — the previous Senate GOP whip — Thune said he has been “sitting down and meeting with all of our current senators about leadership positions, and also helping to build relationships with these candidates during the campaign, which I think will be critical come vote time.”
Thune, who has served two decades in the Senate, touted his legislative accomplishments and said, “I think people are looking for leadership that is able to deliver results and get things done.”
“I hope to be able to make that argument when the time comes,” he said. “In the meantime, we’re just working on getting a majority.”
