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Thune Will Run For Senate GOP Leadership
WASHINGTON (AP) — Post-election shifts in the Senate could promote both of South Dakota’s senators in their party ranks.
Sen. John Thune is running for Senate Republican Conference vice chairman, the No. 5 spot in GOP Senate leadership. He said Wednesday that he had been talking to colleagues all day, hoping to win the post in an election among his colleagues that is expected to be held before the end of the year.
“The main thing is being able to be at the table and to have a say in the direction and the agenda and the things we are trying to get done in the Senate,” Thune said of the job.
Thune, who is up for re-election in 2010, said he has been encouraged by the responses from his colleagues so far. Texas Sen. John Cornyn now holds the vice chairmanship but is expected to run for a different leadership position this year.
If Thune wins, he said he will work to find common ground among Republican senators, who lost seats in this week’s election, and the Democratic administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
“There’s going to be a temptation I think, to move hard to the left and I don’t think that’s where the American public is,” he said of the Democratic gains.
Thune has been visible in the Senate since he defeated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in 2004. Some Republicans hoped to see him take over their party’s campaign efforts for the 2008 election cycle, but he decided not to seek that post, saying it would involve too much time away from home.
The state’s senior senator, Democrat Tim Johnson, could assume the Senate Banking Committee chairmanship if that panel’s chairman, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, assumes the leadership of another committee. Johnson is second to Dodd in seniority on the panel.
Sen. John Thune is running for Senate Republican Conference vice chairman, the No. 5 spot in GOP Senate leadership. He said Wednesday that he had been talking to colleagues all day, hoping to win the post in an election among his colleagues that is expected to be held before the end of the year.
“The main thing is being able to be at the table and to have a say in the direction and the agenda and the things we are trying to get done in the Senate,” Thune said of the job.
Thune, who is up for re-election in 2010, said he has been encouraged by the responses from his colleagues so far. Texas Sen. John Cornyn now holds the vice chairmanship but is expected to run for a different leadership position this year.
If Thune wins, he said he will work to find common ground among Republican senators, who lost seats in this week’s election, and the Democratic administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
“There’s going to be a temptation I think, to move hard to the left and I don’t think that’s where the American public is,” he said of the Democratic gains.
Thune has been visible in the Senate since he defeated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle in 2004. Some Republicans hoped to see him take over their party’s campaign efforts for the 2008 election cycle, but he decided not to seek that post, saying it would involve too much time away from home.
The state’s senior senator, Democrat Tim Johnson, could assume the Senate Banking Committee chairmanship if that panel’s chairman, Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, assumes the leadership of another committee. Johnson is second to Dodd in seniority on the panel.
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