If Senator Thune Lets the SAVE America Act Die, His Political Career Will Go With It

“Thune and his crew are the real blockers, slow-walking a wildly popular bill while chasing side quests… Enough is enough,” reads a joint statement from Reps. Randy Fine (R-FL), Mark Harris (R-NC), and Keith Self (R-FL). 

Moments like this are rare in Congress—even for a Senate Majority Leader. 

Beyond the exceedingly high stakes, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act comes with bipartisan backing, over 50 co-sponsors, overwhelming popularity from the public—including over 90% support from Republicans, around 70% from Independents, and 50% support from Democrats—and calls for support from leading cultural and political voices in and outside of Congress such as Elon Musk, President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, the Heritage Foundation, the Federalist Society, and even Nicki Minaj. 

After passing in the House of Representatives last month, the SAVE America Act now advances to the Senate, where it will face its final obstacle: Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). 

If Thune delivers passage, he will secure one of the most significant federal election integrity reforms in decades and cement his reputation as a leader who pulled through when he was needed most.

If he fails—and the SAVE America Act dies in the Senate—Thune will effectively deliver a self-administered fatal strike to his own political future.

For context, the SAVE America Act would require all voters to present government-issued photo identification and proof of citizenship in order to vote. Seen by most as a clear, common-sense measure, the bill aims to minimize election fraud, restore voter confidence, and bring the nation more in line with how the rest of the developed world conducts elections.

Those are among the reasons why President Trump has said that seeing the SAVE America Act succeed is currently his “number one priority.”

“We want Voter I.D., we want proof of citizenship… We don’t want to have mail-in ballots coming in from all corners of the world. We want to have it accurate,” said President Trump, noting that the SAVE America Act does make exceptions, including for the ill and for servicemen and women overseas. He concluded by attesting that mail-in ballots “guarantee crooked elections.”

But this is far from a Republican talking point ahead of what is sure to be a consequential midterm election. In fact, it’s actually Democrats and Independents whose confidence in election integrity has dropped the most in recent years—by 16 and 11 percentage points respectively. Indeed, Americans' confidence that their elections will be run fairly has dropped to its lowest point in years.

Hence, the SAVE America Act has found favor on both sides of the aisle. 

“Poll after poll shows around 80% of Americans support the idea of only citizens voting and requiring ID, with even higher numbers for Republicans and solid majorities of Democrats (often 70%+),” wrote the Lincoln Media Foundation in their coverage of the SAVE America Act on X. “It's described as crossing socioeconomic lines and bipartisan—something people agree on ‘more than just about anything, even ‘apple pie.’”

It is ironic, then, that the Republican-authored bill championed by a Republican President and which just passed in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives may die upon arrival to the Republican-controlled Senate, and at the sole discretion of the Republican Majority Leader, no less.

How can this possibly be?

In the Senate, 60 votes are required to invoke cloture and end debate on legislation. If the vote on the SAVE America Act fell strictly on Party lines—and there were no defectors—Republicans would not be able to pass this threshold with the 53-47 majority they hold. 

On top of that, there are indeed a host of defectors. Several of them are the usual suspects, such as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who claimed that SAVE America Act “is gonna disenfranchise an extraordinary majority” and insinuated that it is not “implementable.”

However, that 60 vote threshold is not the only path forward. Senate rules allow a simple majority, or quorum, to force the minority into a “talking filibuster,” whereby Democrats (or, more accurately, the filibustering party) would be required to physically stay, debate, or read for as long as possible until one of the parties yields and forfeits the vote.

This classic, traditional form of the filibuster is a practice nearly as old as the nation itself. And it’s now the leading strategy supported by the vast majority of SAVE America Act supporters, including Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rick Scott (R-FL).

“Worst case scenario, Democrats filibuster to death an 85% issue like Voter ID and citizen voting in front of the entire country. Best case scenario, Democrats filibuster an 85% issue, and we defeat them and it becomes law, either at simple majority or in a negotiated product that gets 60 [votes],” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) in a letter to Senate colleagues. “Either way America knows who is with them.”

But Thune does not support the talking filibuster strategy and claims Republicans “don’t have the votes either to proceed on a talking filibuster nor to sustain one if [they] got on it.” Hence, unless something changes, the bill is scheduled for a normal vote next week. It will face nigh-insurmountable odds as Thune tries—for some reason—to still somehow invoke cloture.

“We’re going to have to fight on the floor,” Thune told reporters earlier this week. “We’re going to vote on this. We’re going to put it out and we’ll give Democrats the opportunity to cast their vote.”

If that happens as Thune describes, the SAVE America Act will almost certainly die. So too will Thune’s prospects for reelection, say critics. 

“Understand what Thune is doing right now… Thune needs to kill the SAVE America Act, not expose any of his GOP colleagues as being against it, and be able to pretend that he tried,” Sean Davis, CEO of The Federalist, wrote on X. “This is the actual Senate GOP trifecta—doing nothing while pretending they tried everything and protecting the worst of the worst the whole time.”

Davis’ theory suggests Thune is playing defense for Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Curtis (R-UT), Murkowski, and Susan Collins (R-ME)—the latter of whom claimed she would support the SAVE America Act, but not a talking filibuster. Perhaps those four have indeed confirmed to Thune that they would vote against Republicans in their efforts to obtain quorum. 

But if that’s the case, the obvious response is to put the motion on the floor. Make senators vote. Let Americans see who stands for it and who stands against it. And then, let those Senators deal with the political fallout of their respective decisions. 

Would that attempt—even if it were ultimately unsuccessful—not be better than moving forward with the one strategy practically guaranteed to fail? 

Is that failing strategy only preferable because it affords these Senators the mere appearance of supporting an election reform bill when in reality it mattered so little to them that they were unwilling to sit through a filibuster to protect it?

“Congress has only one job: to enact the will of the people. It shouldn't be this hard to pass legislation that most Americans want. If our elected officials can't do this, they should be looking over their shoulders come the November elections,” said USA Today columnist Nicole Russell. 

“Ok, John,” wrote Fox News columnist David Marcus, “How about this: Any Republican senator who refuses to vote to break the filibuster loses their committee assignments, gets no money from the party and is promised a primary.”

If the talking filibuster fails, then constituents will direct their ire towards the aforementioned Senators. But if the attempt is never made, it’s Thune alone who will take—and rightly deserve—the complete brunt of that blow. 

“We want a talking filibuster. No cloture motion,” said Cleta Mitchell, Senior Legal Fellow at the Conservative Partnership Institute and founder of the Election Integrity Network. She wrote on X that if Thune goes for cloture, “it kills the SAVE America Act. It will be his doing. He will have killed the bill. He needs [to] know we know that.”

“If @LeaderJohnThune proceeds with that strategy, he is putting a big fat target on himself and his GOP leadership pals,” Mitchell wrote in another post. “And he will utterly demolish base support for a GOP Senate.”

If one has any doubt that Thune’s entire political legacy hangs in the balance of his actions on Monday, look no further than the emerging coalition of House Republicans who are currently gearing up for a “massive standoff” with Thune. This even includes the President himself, who threatened not to sign any other bills until the SAVE America Act is passed. 

President Trump is joined by a growing host of Congressmen and women who argue the Majority Leader’s actions are directly driving a wedge through the Republican Party which threatens to completely undermine its control over both chambers of Congress. 

“We are prepared to vote no on any Senate legislation until the upper chamber stops dragging its feet and passes the SAVE America Act," reads a joint statement from Reps. Randy Fine (R-FL), Mark Harris (R-NC), and Keith Self (R-FL). 

“Critics may scream that our strategy is ‘obstructionism,’ but let's call it what it is: Thune and his crew are the real blockers, slow-walking a wildly popular bill while chasing side quests… Enough is enough. It's time for House Republicans to draw a line in the sand,” their statement continued.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) also recently affirmed her support for the coalition, writing on X that “no more Senate bills will pass the floor until the Standing Filibuster is embraced and THE SAVE AMERICA ACT IS PASSED.”

“This is really 100% on Leader Thune,” Luna said during a Fox News interview. “I know for a fact the American people have told their senators what they want, both Democrats and Republicans.”

Ironically, the only people served by Thune’s inaction are the far-left Democrats and superminority of Americans that opposed the SAVE America Act from the beginning. That includes people like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who continues to perpetuate the racial stereotype that nonwhite voters do not possess I.D., calls the bill “Jim Crow 2.0,” and claims it would “disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans.” 

If the bill dies, Thune will not have protected his constituents, MAGA, or the overwhelming majority of Americans who support basic election safeguards. 

“What’s the point of voting for you if you let Democrats kneecap every policy they don’t like even when you hold both chambers?” one X user asked Thune.

It is not too late for Thune to change course. He can still force a talking filibuster and compel senators to publicly defend blocking the SAVE America Act. If he truly believes the stakes justify it, he could go even further and move to “nuke the filibuster”—the controversial step of changing Senate rules so legislation passes with a simple majority. Thune has already said that the latter option is “not going to happen.”

That doesn’t leave the Republicans—or Thune—with many options. But 51 is a lower and more attainable threshold than 60. Thune should be laser-focused on coalescing his party behind a winning strategy to hold the line and advance the SAVE America Act, lest he fumble a critical bill—and his own political career—so extremely close to the finish line. 

“Leader John Thune, do the right thing,” said Luna. “The American people are counting on you.”

“He’s got to be a leader,” said President Trump regarding Thune. “If he’s a leader, he’s got to get [the votes].”

“It must be done or democracy is dead,” said Elon Musk regarding the SAVE America Act last month.