John Thune's balancing act: Inside his push to save the GOP majority
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has tried to balance passing the president's agenda and preserving the independence of the Senate. The midterms are his biggest test yet.
Key points
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune is campaigning to keep the GOP majority a week before midterms.
- Thune has balanced advancing Trump's agenda with preserving Senate independence.
- An unpopular war with Iran and high gas prices have made the Senate map perilous for Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune is in the final stretch of campaigning to preserve the Republican Senate majority, with one week left before the midterms. On Friday, he appeared in Sioux City, Iowa, with Rep. Ashley Hinson at a roundtable with local business owners, a quieter event than President Trump's rally the previous day.
Thune, 65, has led the Senate GOP for nearly two years, working to advance the president's agenda while maintaining the chamber's independence. The election is seen as a test of whether that approach has worked, as an unpopular war with Iran and high gas prices have made the Senate map more difficult for Republicans.
Thune's leadership style
Colleagues describe Thune as steady, conservative and kind. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said he "doesn't lose his temper very easily at all," while Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska called him "a really decent man." Even Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has called him a "good and decent American."
Under Thune, the Senate has passed the president's tax, border security and defense agenda, along with bipartisan measures on housing, stablecoins, revenge porn and fentanyl. But those achievements risk being overshadowed by the war's economic toll.
Nothing's a guarantee. There are no layups.
— Sen. John Thune
Path to the Senate
Thune grew up in Murdo, South Dakota, and played basketball at Biola University before working in Sen. Jim Abdnor's office. He served in the Small Business Administration under Ronald Reagan and was elected to the House in 1996.
In 2004, he defeated Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle by more than 4,000 votes, becoming the first challenger in half a century to oust a Senate party leader. Murkowski said he was "like the dragon-slayer."
