SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Neither South Dakota’s “Curse of Karl” nor the invocations of former President Donald Trump weighed on Republican Sen. John Thune this week as he breezed to a historic fourth term that could see him ascend to lead the GOP’s Senate caucus.
Only one other South Dakota senator has won four terms: Sen. Karl Mundt, whose time in Congress from the 1930s to the 1970s inspired a joke in state political circles known as the “Curse of Karl.” Three other senators — Democrats George McGovern and Tom Daschle, as well as Republican Larry Pressler — tried to convince South Dakotans to grant them four Senate terms. They all failed, with Daschle losing to Thune in 2004.
Thune, 61, admitted to some “bare knuckles campaigns where you’re just tearing the bark off each other” over the years. But this year’s campaign was a quiet one in which his Democratic challenger came nowhere near his $17 million in campaign funds. Thune hardly acknowledged opponent Brian Bengs, an Air Force veteran and university professor, and instead ran ads that featured his granddaughter and panned President Joe Biden’s economic policies.
“Congratulations for breaking the curse,” read the cake at Thune’s Tuesday victory party.
But a potential post atop the Senate GOP leadership awaits. Thune, currently the No. 2 Senate Republican, expressed support for the current leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Thune also didn’t shy away from discussing his own leadership aspects when it comes time to pick a new leader, saying he knows how to both lay out a “clearly defined vision” for the caucus and marshal support for it.
Karl Rove, an influential Republican strategist, praised Thune at a fundraiser for law enforcement in Sioux Falls this week, telling the crowd that “South Dakota is hitting way above its weight with him in the United States Senate.”
“I do think that there is an expectation in our country that checks and balances is a good thing,” Thune said of the push for the GOP to control Congress. “And if you have a divided government, sometimes that can present an opportunity to do some really consequential things.”
Thune, who did not receive Trump’s endorsement, said it was proof his party needed to look past the former president: “You can’t have a party that’s built around one person’s personality. You got to have a party that’s built on something that’s more durable.”