With 13 months until midterms, 4 senators mum on if they’re running for reelection in 2022
Republicans need a net gain of just one seat to win back the Senate majority in next year’s elections
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The 2022 midterm elections are just over 13 months away.
While that may seem like a long time to go, the race has long been well underway, with contenders announcing their candidacies, fundraising in full swing, and campaign ads already running in hot contests across the country.
Republicans are defending 20 of the 34 Senate seats up for grabs next year, but they need a net gain of just one seat to win back the majority in the chamber they lost when the Democrats swept January’s twin Georgia Senate runoff elections.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FIVE BIG QUESTIONS AS THE GOP TRIES TO WIN BACK THE SENATE MAJORITY IN 2022
The oldest member of the Senate – 88-year-old GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley – on Friday said that he would seek reelection next year to another six-year term.
Grassley’s announcement leaves four remaining senators – three Republicans and one Democrat – who have not yet spelled out if they’re running for reelection next year.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., talks with a reporter before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on Dec. 16, 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Sen. Ron Johnson has yet to say if he’s seeking a third term in the 2022 midterms. Johnson vowed in 2016 to only serve two terms, but he’s left open the possibility of running again.
"I have plenty of time to make that decision," Johnson told reporters last month.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TRUMP URGES ‘RUN RON, RUN’ AS HE GIVES UNDECIDED JOHNSON HIS ENDORSEMENT
Johnson has said he feels no pressure to decide anytime soon, noting that he didn’t launch his first Senate campaign in 2010 until seven months before the election.
Democrats are targeting the GOP-held seat in Wisconsin, a key battleground state which now-President Biden narrowly captured in last November’s election.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. John Thune, R-S.D.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., speaks during a Senate Transportation subcommittee hybrid hearing on transporting a coronavirus vaccine on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020, in Washington. (Samuel Corum/The New York Times via AP, Pool)
Sen. John Thune, who as Senate minority whip is the No. 2 Republican in the chamber, has not said yet if he’ll run in 2022 for a fourth six-year term.
Thune is next in line to lead his party in the chamber if Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, the longtime senator from Kentucky, retires in the coming years. The senator has said he’s dong the necessary things to prepare for another run, but hasn’t made any formal announcement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NUMBER TWO SENATE REPUBLICAN FACING 2022 PRIMARY CHALLENGER
Thune incurred the wrath of former President Trump during the final days of the Trump presidency for publicly acknowledging that Biden won the 2020 presidential election, and he’s currently facing what appears to be a long-shot primary challenge from the right in the solidly red state of South Dakota.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, speaks during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee business meeting in Washington on Thursday, March 4, 2021. (Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Lisa Murkowski has also yet to file for reelection.
Trump has vowed to campaign against Murkowski if she runs in 2022, as she was one of seven Republicans in the Senate to vote to convict Trump in his impeachment trial earlier this year, following the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists aiming to disrupt congressional certification of Biden’s election victory.
Trump has endorsed Republican candidate Kelly Tshibaka, who’s challenging Murkowski. And the Alaska GOP has endorsed Tshibaka’s campaign too.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TRUMP ENDORSES MURKOWSKI CHALLENGER IN ALASKA SENATE RACE
But Murkowski has the support of the NRSC, which backs Senate GOP incumbents running for reelection. And earlier this year the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), which is aligned with McConnell, announced that it was endorsing Murkowski for reelection.
Murkowski is no stranger to fierce opposition from her own party. When she was running for reelection in 2010, the senator lost the GOP primary to Tea Party challenger Joe Miller, who was backed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – then at the pinnacle of her political influence. But Murkowski, following her primary defeat, launched a write-in campaign and won the general election.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.
Sen. Patrick Leahy on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on May 1, 2019. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Sen. Patrick Leahy, who was first elected to the Senate in 1974, has yet to announce whether he’ll seek another term in next year’s midterm elections.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I don’t even think of it and I really put it out of my mind until the winter before," the 81-year-old Leahy told reporters in Vermont this summer.
If Leahy, chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee, runs and wins a ninth term, he would surpass the late Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia to become the longest-serving senator in history by the end of his term.