Senate Majority Leader John Thune previews Republican midterm message heading into 2026

FIRST ON FOX—Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., previewed the Republican midterm message in an interview with the “Ruthless” podcast out Thursday, saying it would be about safety, economics and opportunity.

“For us anyway, it’s safer streets, more money in your pocket, and new opportunities for a better life,” Thune said. “And those are all things that I think we’re focusing on as those bread-and-butter issues that the American people, I think, care the most about. Most elections, in my view, tend to be economic elections.”

Thune added community and national security were also key factors for Republicans to run on, touting their work to close the border, as well as their regulatory, tax and energy policies done in concert with President Donald Trump. 

“People are looking for new and better opportunities to get ahead, and we want to do everything we can to make that possible for them,” he said.

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“Ruthless” co-host Josh Holmes said that successful Trump administration work on the border could have the unintended effect of making the issue less potent politically for Republicans, who ran on American frustrations with border security in 2024 en route to recapturing power in Washington.

Thune also addressed affordability and said Republicans had implemented policies that will lower people’s tax bills overall, through such measures as eliminating taxes on tips and making the 2017 tax cuts permanent in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

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“The country’s being well positioned, and we just want to make sure we do everything we can to create the conditions that are favorable for growth,” he said.

Midterms for an incumbent party are traditionally difficult. Democrats under President Barack Obama suffered bruising losses in 2010 and 2014, while Republicans lost control of the House in 2018 during Trump’s first term. President Joe Biden saw Democrats narrowly lose control of the House in 2022, although they gained a seat in the U.S. Senate and were widely seen as overperforming at the time.

Thune acknowledged midterms, particularly for a president’s second term, can be “dicey” but said with a solid ground game and message, Republicans could be successful. 

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There are some other canaries in the coal mine for Republicans based on elections over the past month, with Democrats winning races across the country, from Georgia to Virginia to California. Republicans also had to sweat out a close win this week in a special Tennessee U.S. House race for a district that Trump carried handily in 2024.

The map favors Republicans to hold their 53-seat majority in the U.S. Senate, with prognosticators seeing few opportunities for flipping seats on either side, but they have a tiny majority in the House.

“It starts with quality candidates. You’ve got to recruit good, strong candidates,” Thune said. “Not just primary but general election candidates… And you have to have a message or a record of accomplishment to run on. And for our incumbents, I believe we’ll have that.”