Senate Majority Leader Thune Failed to Use Available Tools to Pass Election Integrity Legislation
Source: M.D. Kittle. "John 'Failure Is Not An Option' Thune Just Failed Election Integrity." May 13, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that Senate leader John Thune had the tools to pass popular election integrity laws but chose not to use them. Instead of forcing Democrats to actually debate continuously (which would lower the vote threshold), Thune settled for symbolic votes and speeches that accomplished nothing.
Conclusion
Senate Majority Leader John Thune failed to pass the SAVE America Act not due to insurmountable obstacles, but due to inadequate leadership and unwillingness to use available parliamentary procedures
Premises
- The SAVE America Act has broad public support, making it politically viable to pass
- Thune could have used the talking filibuster procedure to force Democrats to continuously debate until they exhaust speaking opportunities, lowering the threshold from 60 to 51 votes
- Thune previously demonstrated commitment to passing less popular legislation (the 'One Big Beautiful Bill') by putting 'everything on the line'
- Thune's claim that 'we don't have the votes to get rid of the filibuster' ignores alternative parliamentary procedures that don't require eliminating the filibuster
- The current approach of holding 'spirited debate' and putting Democrats 'on the record' is performative rather than substantive action
Assumptions
- Election integrity legislation is more fundamentally important than tax policy legislation
- The talking filibuster procedure would be effective in forcing passage of the SAVE America Act
- Senate Republicans have the political will to sustain a talking filibuster if leadership demanded it
- Thune's leadership style prioritizes political theater over substantive legislative achievement