Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) is the latest Republican to predict a GOP Senate majority next year, but also expressed some concern about the party’s fundraising deficit heading into the final months of the campaign.
Thune told Politico at the RNC “I am pretty confident we get the majority,” the Republican whip said Tuesday in a CNN-POLITICO Grill interview, remarking that there are “a number of the seats that could break for us” on the map.
Thune, who is formally seeking to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as the top Senate Republican, cited a series of factors they hope will flip one to two seats, depending on who wins the presidential election.
“First of all, we got a great map, but then we have really, really strong candidates in all the key states and [former President Donald Trump] is performing well in a lot of states,” Thune added.
Still, he noted that Republican candidates are struggling to keep pace with their Democratic opponents in fundraising — many of whom are longtime incumbents like Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.).
“There is a significant … financial disadvantage a lot of our candidates have relative to their democratic opponents in hard dollars,” Thune said. “But you don’t have to have as much money as you have aside, but you gotta have enough money to get your message out. So I think right now it’s raising the resources so that candidates can deliver their message and then just executing on the campaign trail.”
Still, he said he’s optimistic.
“I think it is a favorable environment,” Thune said, before concluding: “I feel like we’re in the best position we can be.”
