But Thune is making good on his hopes of turning the GOP away from Trump and presenting a more forward-looking vision for the party. Thune recoiled from Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, famously declaring that his election challenge would go down on the Senate floor like a “shot dog.” That drew a political threat from Trump, but Thune easily won reelection last year.
Since then, Thune made clear he did not think Trump’s style was suitable for the party, and said in November that “it’s clear that running on relitigating the 2020 election is not a winning strategy.” He has also praised Scott’s strengths as a candidate, concluding last year that Scott has “obviously helped a lot of people around the country in the last year, raised a lot of money and built a lot of relationships that can be very useful if he does” run.
Scott could pick up more Senate endorsements in the coming days because of his throwback style of conservatism and optimistic rhetoric, particularly for Republicans looking for a non-Trump candidate to get behind.
Source link: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/21/john-thune-tim-scott-endorse-00098071
