Overview
- Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he worries Republicans could lose their Senate majority in November after a Tuesday interview in his home state where he called the map competitive.
- Thune publicly split with President Trump on policy by criticizing the administration’s pause on ground‑beef tariffs, urging data centers to be self‑sufficient and locally accepted, and questioning the push to ram through the SAVE America Act.
- Thune told reporters that roughly 25 to 30 Republican senators want to keep the 60‑vote filibuster threshold and that the votes do not exist to weaken or eliminate it, making passage of the election bill unlikely without major change.
- Vice President JD Vance declined to endorse Thune for another term as Senate leader, saying leadership choices are the senators’ business, while the White House has signaled selective campaign engagement and President Trump has pledged stepped‑up help for vulnerable incumbents.
- The dispute matters for voters and campaigns because a narrow Senate margin and several toss‑up GOP seats, including expensive contests in Texas, mean leadership fractures could affect where money and visits go and shape the Senate’s ability to act after the midterms.