John Thune in 2022 SD Senate race

On Government Reform: Don't put Washington in charge of state elections

This radical legislation would provide for a massive federal takeover of our electoral system, chill free speech, and turn the Federal Election Commission--the primary enforcer of election law in this country--into a partisan body. This radical legislation would undermine state voter ID laws; spend taxpayer dollars on political campaigns; and make it easier for those here illegally to vote.

And, most of all, it would put Washington, not state governments, in charge of elections--for no reason at all. Zero reason. There is no systemic problem with state election laws. And state election officials do not need Washington bureaucrats dictating how many days of early voting they should offer, or how they should manage mail-in ballots.

[See details of H.R.1/S.1]

On Principles & Values: Running for 4th Senate term: breaking the "Curse of Karl"?

While Mundt is the only senator to win four terms, there have been five three-termers. Thune is nearing the end of his third term in the Senate. That seems hard to believe for those of us who remember the explosive 2004 campaign he waged against Sen. Daschle. It was the most-expensive race in state history and drew national attention. Thune won by about 4,500 votes, unseating the Senate Democratic leader 197,848, or 50.6%, to 193,340, or 49.4%.

Former state Sen. Billie Sutton ran a strong race for governor in 2018 and surely will be asked to either try a rematch with Gov. Kristi Noem in 2022 or run against Thune. He may be the Democrats' best hope in either race.