Longtime senateleader mitch-mcconnell” target=”_blank”>Mitch McConnell<of South Dakota, one of his top allies in the chamber, to run for reelection next year.
“His party needs him in the Senate and the country needs him in the Senate,” McConnell told Fox News when asked about Thune, who’s mulling retirement after his current term ends.
“I hope that Sen. Thune will indeed after the holidays announce that he’s going to run for reelection,” the Senate minority leader and longtime lawmaker from Kentucky said in an interview Wednesday on Fox News’ “America Reports.”
THUNE CALLS GOP’S 2021 ELECTION VICTORIES ‘REPUDIATION’ OF DEMOCRATS’ POLICIES
Thune, who as senate” target=”_blank”>Senate <and nears the end of his third-term (after serving six years in the House of Representatives) in the Senate, raised eyebrows earlier this month.
elections” target=”_blank”>CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS REPORTING FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL<
While McConnell’s encouragement was public, other Republican senators have been privately urging Thune to stick around.
Republicans need a net gain of just one seat in the electionsto win back the majority in the chamber they lost when they were swept by the Democrats in the Jan. 5 twin Senate runoff elections in Georgia. And Thune would be one of the top contenders to succeed the 79-year-old McConnell whenever he’s ready to step down as Senate GOP leader.
Sen. John Thune asks questions during a Senate Finance Committee meeting on Capitol Hill, May 12, 2021. (Susan Walsh/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Thune earned the ire of former President donald-trump” target=”_blank”>Donald Trump < a close ally of the former president, to launch a primary challenge against Thune in 2022. But Noem dismissed any bid for Senate and is running next year for reelection as governor in the deeply red state.
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While Trump repeatedly criticizes and ridicules McConnell, he hasn’t targeted Thune in months.
If Thune does run for reelection, he would face a primary challenge from first-time candidate Mark Mowry, who last spring launched a long-shot bid for the Senate seat.
