John Thune wins bid to seek fourth term as South Dakota senator

South Dakota Sen. John Thune dispatched his two primary contenders Tuesday with relative ease.

Facing his first primary challenge since winning office in 1996, Thune earned 72% of the vote while challengers Bruce Whalen and Mark Mowry had 20% and 7%, respecitvely.

"I want to thank Republicans in South Dakota for supporting my Senate candidacy, and I look forward to continue putting South Dakota's interests on the national agenda and stopping President Biden's radical, left-wing crusade," Thune said in a statement.

Election results: South Dakota primary

During his campaign, Whalen, an enrolled tribal member, had said the state of South Dakota was becoming dependent on government handouts in the same way that Indian reservations are dependent. He reiterated that Tuesday.

"The Whalen candidacy was ultimately a referendum on South Dakota," he said in a statement. "The state chose Thune and other status quo candidates to continue the march toward ratifying itself as a giant Indian reservation. The Stockholm Syndrome is strong with this state. The rescue continues."

A message for Mowry was not immediately returned.

The victory paves the way for Thune to seek a fourth term in November, where he will face Democrat Brian Bengs.

Running for a fourth Senate term in South Dakota has more often than not ended a political career rather than prolonging it. The state's voters have only elected Karl Mundt to a fourth Senate term. Meanwhile, voters rejected attempts by George McGovern, Larry Pressler and Tom Daschle to win fourth terms.

Whalen and Mowry attempted to tap into populist Republican angst over national issues. Both Whalen, 60, and Mowry, 65, contended that former President Donald Trump had been defrauded in the 2020 presidential election. They criticized Thune for stating that no widespread fraud had been found in the election.

This was not Whalen's first foray into politics. A citizen of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, he had assisted Thune during his 2004 campaign against Daschle by campaigning in Indian Country for Thune. Two years earlier, Thune had lost his Senate bid against incumbent Tim Johnson by a mere 524, and his 2004 campaign sought to improve his margins in Indian Country.

Whalen ran for Congress against incumbent Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in 2006, but came away from the election with less than 30% of the vote. He failed to make the ballot as a lieutenant governor candidate in 2018.

Mowry, from Spearfish, had no previous political experience in the state. The 2020 presidential election outcome so incensed him that he attended the Jan. 6, 2020 protest in Washington, D.C. that saw some protesters riot at the Capitol. He said he did not particpate in the riot.

Both men faced Thune's daunting campaign account, which has more than $16 million in cash on hand.

Thune, 61, was able to keep most of that intact for the general election. Like all elected Republicans, he faced the prospect of angry GOP voters who were upset at the political establishment.

As the number-two ranking Republican in the Senate, Thune could have been more vulnerable than most, but national polling indicated that he still had high approval ratings in the state. He sought to sidestep some of the anti-establishment backlash by noting that Democrats control the government in Washington, blaming them for higher gas prices and a southern border seeing record levels of immigration.

"Right now," he said in one ad, "they're in charge. That'll change. When it does, we'll be ready."

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: John Thune wins U.S. Senate republican primary election in South Dakota