U-S Senator John Thune matched South Dakota history on Tuesday when he won his fourth term in the Senate.
The only other South Dakotan to do that was 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.
In this campaign’s early stages, the curse seemed to have some life to it. After Thune rejected Donald Trump’s claims the 2020 election was stolen, Trump tried to find a challenger for the primary election.
In the end, the campaign was a quiet one. Thune easily won the primary before using a $17-million dollar war chest to swamp Democrat Brian Bengs, an Air Force veteran and university professor, with 70% of the vote in last week’s election.
Thune told The Associated Press on Thursday that he’s pressing his party to look beyond Trump’s influence.
He also said he wants to stay “focused on solutions,” especially on inflation, rather than bombastic political styles that “make a point over making a difference.”
It’s a conservative style that has been effective for the 61-year old Thune through 3 terms in both the House and Senate.
Expressability