John Thune received election to the Senate in 2004 by conquering Senator Tom Daschle, the highly effective Democratic chief, solely to rapidly face a mortal risk to his political future when a significant Air Power base in his state was threatened with closure.
He beat again the trouble and saved Ellsworth Air Power Base, a monetary engine in his largely rural state, retaining his job and studying helpful classes which have helped energy his rise within the Senate.
Now Mr. Thune, a South Dakota Republican, has ascended to the highest and on Friday grew to become the Senate majority chief within the new Congress. Once more he’s dealing with an early problem and a significant risk to his political standing.
Mr. Thune’s activity this time is to juggle President-elect Donald J. Trump’s calls for, the competing needs of 53 G.O.P. senators and a formidable legislative agenda. It begins with shepherding a number of baggage-laden Trump nominees to affirmation within the intently divided Senate, the place he can afford to lose not more than three Republican votes if Democrats maintain collectively in opposition.
On the identical time, he intends to make use of a difficult maneuver to steer round a filibuster and move a mix border safety, army spending and power manufacturing invoice that can require critical legislative finesse. And he needs to do it within the first month or so, whereas additionally reordering how and the way usually the Senate works.
It’s a tall order for the 6-foot 4-inch former all-state basketball participant, a crack shot who’s obsessed with pheasant searching and who turns 64 in a number of days.
“Let’s simply say he’s bought a number of pursuits to steadiness to cement his credibility,” mentioned Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from bordering North Dakota who endorsed Mr. Thune for chief, noting that his colleague had by no means lied to him.
These in Mr. Thune’s orbit say a stinging defeat in a 2002 Senate bid, the momentous marketing campaign in opposition to Mr. Daschle two years later after which the battle to save lots of Ellsworth toughened and educated Mr. Thune about political realities. However he had already exhibited a pronounced aversion to shedding throughout his days enjoying basketball for the highschool group in his tiny hometown, Murdo, S.D., and later at Biola College, a non-public Christian faculty in California.
“It was simply completely insane how aggressive he was,” mentioned his youthful brother, Tim, who shared a bed room with him of their 800-square-foot house and shot baskets on the hard-packed filth courtroom of their yard. “He all the time wished the ball. When it was clutch time, he wished the ball.”
Mr. Thune significantly thought of however dropped the thought of operating for president in 2012, after which contemplated retiring from the Senate in 2022. However on the urging of Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and outgoing social gathering chief, and the lure of a future emptiness when Mr. McConnell stepped apart, Mr. Thune determined to stay round, saying he was keen to proceed doing the work “even when it was exhausting, uncomfortable or unpopular.”
Regardless of his choice to stay, he was no lock to exchange Mr. McConnell after his 18-year run as chief, and confronted a tricky problem from Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. Mr. Cornyn, like Mr. Thune, served as Mr. McConnell’s No. 2 for a stretch and was thought of to have sharper political expertise.
However Mr. Thune bought a little bit of a check run on the prime when Mr. McConnell was absent with well being points in 2023, and his colleagues favored what they noticed. He spent months elevating cash, campaigning for Senate candidates and promising to be a consensus builder, providing an strategy completely different from Mr. McConnell’s top-down, insular management type. He received the race on the second poll in a outcome interpreted by many as an indication that Senate Republicans wished a frontrunner keen to maintain at the very least a ways from Mr. Trump.
Now even one in every of his opponents is trying ahead to Mr. Thune taking on.
“I’m optimistic,” mentioned Senator Rick Scott, the Florida Republican who completed a distant third within the management race and had a famously dangerous relationship with Mr. McConnell. “We’re going to attempt to work collectively,” he mentioned, describing the brand new chief as a “likable man.”
Mr. Thune’s affability, although, has prompted some senators to fret privately that his want to be favored might hinder him. Being a Senate chief requires making powerful calls sure to anger somebody, and so they worry that his willpower to keep away from upsetting colleagues or getting hammered on social media might work in opposition to him.
His allies, whereas acknowledging that his temperament differs vastly from Mr. McConnell’s, say Mr. Thune can take the warmth.
“He is a great man. He’s astute. He is ready to make exhausting selections when he must,” his brother mentioned. “Criticism is one thing he has discovered to take. He’ll course of it and whether it is official and legitimate, he’ll study from it.”
The individual Mr. Thune would possibly discover hardest to please is Mr. Trump, who was agitated by Mr. Thune’s previous criticism of his conduct and incensed that the Senate’s No. 2 Republican didn’t again his problem to the 2020 election end result and voted to certify the outcomes. (Mr. Thune himself selected to not contest his 2002 Senate loss by simply over 500 votes, saying it will be divisive for the state.)
Mr. Trump pushed — unsuccessfully — for a major problem to Mr. Thune in 2022 and branded him a RINO, the “Republican in title solely” slur that’s the gravest of insults in MAGA world. Mr. Thune, in flip, endorsed Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina within the Republican presidential major, although he bought on board with Mr. Trump after he secured the nomination.
He has since taken steps to restore relations with Mr. Trump, together with making a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago, the president-elect’s property and personal resort in Florida. The pair appear to have settled right into a working relationship after Mr. Trump stayed out of the management race regardless of a push by a few of his advisers to attempt to block Mr. Thune. Plus, Mr. Trump has come to acknowledge Mr. Thune’s benefits, Mr. Cramer mentioned.
“I’ve talked to Trump a number of instances since John was elected chief,” Mr. Cramer mentioned. “He likes him lots. He likes his articulation. He likes how he appears on TV. I believe he sees him as a little bit of a shock asset.”
Nonetheless, retaining Mr. Trump happy might be an countless job. Earlier this week, the president-elect warned Senate Republicans to not enable Democrats to gum up the affirmation works.
“REPUBLICANS, BE SMART AND TOUGH!!!” Mr. Trump, who has little persistence for, or understanding of, the complexities of congressional course of, urged on his social media web site.
Political allies of Mr. Thune’s say he can deal with Mr. Trump.
“President Trump is troublesome to learn and he’s definitely impulsive, however John has seen it, he has seen him in motion and he has handled him for 4 years,” mentioned Dennis Daugaard, a former South Dakota governor. He mentioned he first encountered Mr. Thune throughout a 1996 race for the state’s lone Home seat, through which the comparatively unknown Mr. Thune upset the state’s lieutenant governor, launching his congressional profession.
“I believe John will strategy President Trump the identical manner he approaches others,” Mr. Daugaard mentioned. “He might be pragmatic. I don’t assume he’ll overpromise.”
Mr. Thune has made vital guarantees about how the Senate will conduct itself on his watch, pledging that senators will work a full week in distinction to current years spent working Monday evenings by means of Thursday afternoon. He mentioned he additionally supposed to deliver extra payments to the ground and permit modification fights when current leaders of each events have sought to restrict political publicity by limiting the variety of votes senators should take.
New leaders in Congress usually say they’ll restore “common order,” solely to desert the pledge as soon as it turns into politically treacherous and sparks grumbling from colleagues who wish to get out of the Capitol for fund-raising journey. Mr. Thune appears decided to stay to his weapons. He mentioned on Friday that he would resist any effort to get rid of the Senate’s signature filibuster rule that enables the minority to thwart laws.
“Sadly right this moment there are lots of people on the market who want to see the Senate flip into a replica of the Home,” Mr. Thune mentioned in his first remarks in his new position. “One among my priorities as chief might be to make sure that the Senate stays the Senate. Meaning preserving the legislative filibuster, the Senate rule that right this moment maybe has the best impression on preserving the founders’ imaginative and prescient of the USA Senate.”
He mentioned he would restore the Senate “as a spot of debate and deliberations,” by empowering committees, adhering to regular legislative order and “participating in prolonged debate on the Senate flooring, the place all members ought to have an opportunity to make their voices and voices of their constituents heard.”
