Thune travels nationwide to boost Senate GOP funds

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) is returning to Washington, D.C., on Monday following a whirlwind trip through two Senate battlegrounds.

On Friday, he traveled to Nevada to fundraise for Army veteran Sam Brown, the establishment pick to challenge Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen (NV) in the fall. Thune spent the next two days in Montana to support Republican businessman Tim Sheehy, who is expected to advance in Tuesday’s GOP primary for Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) seat.

The trip, first reported by the Washington Examiner, is part of a conference-wide pivot to the general election with just five months until Nov. 5. Republicans have a favorable Senate map, but Thune and other party leaders are helping bridge a large fundraising gap against the Democrats.

“This is a make-or-break moment, really, for the country and an opportunity to get a Republican majority,” Thune, the Senate minority whip, said in a phone interview from Montana. “Everybody’s doing what they can – it’s a team effort – and we’re trying to contribute where we can help out.”

A large part of Thune’s efforts are geared toward the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He’s raised more for the campaign arm than any other senator this cycle besides its chairman, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT).

But Thune’s campaign swing, in particular, serves a secondary purpose. The candidates he is helping, should they be elected in November, will get a say in who succeeds Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as the next GOP leader, and the visits are one way he is distinguishing himself from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), his chief rival in that race.

Thune has traveled to GOP fundraisers supporting Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania, Kari Lake in Arizona, and Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) in Indiana, plus an earlier trip he made for Brown in Nevada.

“I mean, we’re kind of all over the country and the key battleground states. And of course, whatever the candidates need and are asking for, we’re trying to do whatever we can,” Thune said.

Looking forward, Thune has travel plans for Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland.

Cornyn, a two-time chairman of the NRSC, has fundraised aggressively since launching his own leader run after McConnell announced he would retire from leadership in February. He’s raised over $18.3 million for Senate Republicans this cycle, including almost $5.6 million in the first quarter alone.

However, Cornyn’s fundraising has largely been confined to his donor-rich state. A source familiar with Cornyn’s political operation told the Washington Examiner that he spent the Memorial Day recess “crisscrossing Texas to help his Republican colleagues and candidates.”

Thune acknowledged he is taking a “somewhat different” strategy. In addition to Senate challengers, he’s traveled to the home states of his incumbent colleagues to raise money for their reelection bids.

Yet the trips are just one part of Thune’s fundraising. Similar to Cornyn, he has brought in money by working the phones and attending events in Washington, D.C.

The two men have even fundraised virtually. Cornyn held a Zoom event for Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde’s Senate campaign in May, according to a source familiar with the fundraiser, following a speech Thune gave remotely for Hovde in March.

All told, Thune has raised $13.1 million for Senate Republicans this cycle.

“I just think that however it gets done, we’re all contributing in whatever way we can,” Thune said.

Republican candidates do not need to match Democrats dollar for dollar, Thune said, to stay competitive, in part because of the outside spending leadership will deploy to their races. But the party is facing Democratic senators who, aided by the advantage of incumbency, are heavily outraising their Republican counterparts.

Tester raised almost $33 million to Sheehy’s $8 million through the first quarter in Montana, according to OpenSecrets, while Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) raised $39 million to Republican businessman Bernie Moreno’s $11 million in Ohio.

Republicans are expected to pick up a seat in West Virginia, barring a surprise run by newly independent Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), meaning they must net one more to guarantee a Senate majority.

The two states Thune visited over the weekend, Nevada and Montana, are viewed as among Republicans’ best shots alongside Ohio.

“In the end, you don’t have to keep up with the other side, but you have to have enough to get your message out,” Thune said.

For now, Thune’s campaign swings have largely been limited to raising cash, but Thune has received requests to attend rallies and other campaign-style events as Election Day draws closer.

In April, he held one of his first with Lake, joining her for a press conference in which he urged Arizonans to “work very aggressively” to help elect her to the Senate.

“I always tell people, I’ll come out for you or against you, whichever helps you the most,” Thune quipped in a nod to his establishment reputation in Washington. He has served in leadership for well over a decade.

Thune acknowledged he’s spoken with the Senate hopefuls about the leader race, typically held in the days after the November election, and expressed optimism in his chances.

“It’s a small electorate,” Thune said of his conference, “and your colleagues are going to make that decision, and you just have to do everything you can to earn their support and kind of make clear how you would, if successful, lead the Senate, lead the conference.”

“And so, we’ve been making that case, making those arguments, and I feel really good about the response that we’ve had,” he added.

Thune declined to share what sort of commitments he’s received, though two senators have come forward to support him publicly: Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), his home state senator, and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).

Virtually the rest of the conference has kept their preference private.

“Nobody’s talking about numbers at this point,” Thune said. “I think it’s early on. We’ve still got five months of clock.”

A strong showing by Republicans in November could shape the leader race in unpredictable ways. Daines, the NRSC chairman, has been floated as a possible dark horse candidate if the conference expands its ranks substantially.

Meanwhile, Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) entrance two weeks ago has made it more likely the secret ballot will go to a second or third round. He is seen as the natural candidate for Senate conservatives but lost his leader run against McConnell in 2022 in a 37-10 vote.

Inevitably, fundraising will be one factor that influences the outcome of the race. McConnell built a formidable political machine in his 16 years leading the conference, and his replacement will be expected to do the same.

But Thune, whose role as Republican whip is widely perceived as an advantage, cast doubt that money will prove decisive. He has spent almost six years building rapport with his colleagues as McConnell’s chief vote-counter on the Senate floor, succeeding Cornyn in the position in 2019.

“It’s a piece of it,” Thune said of the fundraising. “I’m not understating it, but I don’t think it’s the only metric by which people are going to make a decision on that.”

“In the end, it’s a lot about relationships, and it’s about what people are looking at in terms of the vision they have for the conference and who they think can be the strongest and best leader,” he added.

As for the outcome of the election, Thune struck a cautious note, predicting that Senate margins would depend heavily on the political climate in a few months. But he believes candidate recruitment this cycle has given Republicans their best chance to win.

Thune doubts Manchin will make a late play for his West Virginia Senate seat. He announced his retirement in November but fueled fresh speculation he could challenge Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV) in the race by registering as an independent on Friday.

“I’d be really surprised if that happened,” Thune said, joking that he wished Manchin had heeded Republicans’ pleas to leave the Democratic Party years ago. “I think we’re really well-positioned in West Virginia, and I think he knows that.”

From there, Thune calls the Senate map a “target-rich environment.”

Ohio and Montana are two solidly red seats held by Democrats, while Lake’s race lacks an incumbent, he noted, after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) decided to retire.

One of the biggest wild cards is former President Donald Trump’s conviction. On Thursday, a Manhattan jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to cover up an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election, posing the risk that independents abandon Republicans down-ballot with a felon at the top of the ticket.

However, Thune predicted the verdict would not hurt the GOP’s chances, citing his conversations with Republicans on the campaign trail.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“This was a very clearly politically motivated case. I think voters around the country get that, and I think the outcome of the case was pretty baked in,” Thune said.

“I think, if nothing else, there’s even a higher level of intensity now about wanting to win this election,” he added.