Thune: I’ll Never Stop Fighting for Ellsworth Air Force Base
“[Twenty] years ago, Ellsworth was said to be a liability. Today, it’s very clear that it’s a national security asset.”
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:
Click here to watch the video.
Senator Mike Rounds WEEKLY ROUND[S] UP: April 28-May 11, 2025
by US Senator Mike Rounds
Welcome back to another edition of the Weekly Round[s] Up. It has been a busy couple of weeks back in DC after the Easter holiday. However, we’ve had 31 South Dakota groups visit DC over the past two weeks, bringing a bit of home to Capitol Hill and a bright spot in our busy days! In addition to those meetings, I’ve been attending hearings, voting on President Trump’s nominees on the floor and sitting in on classified briefings. I even had the opportunity to introduce a couple of nominees at their Senate confirmation hearings over the past two weeks! More on this and the rest of my schedule in my Weekly Round[s] Up:
South Dakota groups I met with: Over 30 – South Dakota Telecom Association; South Dakota members of the Association of Nurse Anesthetists; the South Dakota Snowmobile Association; South Dakota members of the American College of Physicians Services; South Dakota Rural Electric Association; the Independent Insurance Agents of South Dakota; Barry Dunn, President of South Dakota State University; South Dakota Emergency Nurses Association; the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce; South Dakota tribal students partaking in the Native Youth Policy Summit Expo; Benjamin Ostebee, South Dakota’s representative for the National Community Pharmacists Association; South Dakota Emergency Nurses Association; members of the South Dakota Education Association; Charles and Heather Maude and their two children, Lyle and Kennedy; virtual meeting with Chamberlain High School’s AP Government class; Teonna Randle, who represented South Dakota at the national Poetry Out Loud competition (and placed second overall!); leaders from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe; the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations; members of Northern Great Plains Joint Venture; the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association, including President Justin Tupper of St. Onge; South Dakota members of the Association of American Railroads; members of the South Dakota Farmers Union; leaders from the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe; South Dakota members of the Truck Trailer Manufacturers Association; leaders from Thrivent; South Dakota members of the American Kidney Fund; South Dakota Concerned Women for America; South Dakota Dairy Producers; and Associated General Contractors of South Dakota.
South Dakota towns represented: Aberdeen, Bison, Box Elder, Brandon, Brookings, Burbank, Caputa, Chamberlain, Custer, Dakota Dunes, Dell Rapids, De Smet, Flandreau, Freeman, Gettysburg, Groton, Hermosa, Highmore, Hot Springs, Huron, Ipswich, Kimball, Lake Andes, Madison, Milbank, Mission, Mitchell, North Sioux City, Parade, Pierre, Plankinton, Rapid City, Reliance, Salem, Seneca, Sioux Falls, St. Onge, Tea, Vermillion, Watertown, Wessington Springs, Winner, Woonsocket and Wall.
Other meetings: Dr. Robert Kadlec, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Deterrence, Chemical, and Biological Defense Policy and Programs; Michael Obadal, nominee for Under Secretary for the Army; Adam Telle, nominee for Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; Professor Lars-Hendrik Röller, Chairman of the Berlin Global Dialogue; Rwanda’s Minister of Foreign Affairs; Pious Jung, CEO of CJ America; spoke at a fireside chat for the Hill & Valley Forum; attended the SeedAI Breakfast for AI Policy Practitioners; Thomas Tull, founder of Tulco LLC; Christopher Eisgruber, President of Princeton University; Katie Sutton, nominee for Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy; Ambassador Khazar Ibrahim, Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the United States; Bishop Zaidan of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Sean Callahan, CEO of Catholic Relief Services; Scott Donnelly, CEO of Textron; Binalf Andualem, Ethiopia’s Ambassador to the United States; members of National Grid Renewables; King Abdullah II of Jordan; Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi; members of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association; Salim Ramji, CEO of Vanguard; and Michael Powers, nominee for Deputy Undersecretary of Defense.
I spoke at a breakfast hosted by The Hill about artificial intelligence.
Hearings: I attended nine hearings over the past two weeks. Five were in the Senate Armed Services Committee, three were in the Senate Committee on Appropriations and one was for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During the Banking Committee hearing, I spoke about the importance of reauthorizing and reforming the National Flood Insurance Program. Watch that clip here. In addition, I introduced my friend and former advisor Katie Sutton at her nomination hearing to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber Policy, which you can watch a clip of here.
I also had the honor of introducing Luke Lindberg of South Dakota during his nomination hearing at the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He’ll do a great job as Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. You can watch a clip of my introduction here.
Classified briefings: 3 – two were for the Select Committee on Intelligence. I attended one classified briefing as part of my work as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity.
Votes taken: 29 votes over two weeks – most of these were on additional nominees to executive positions. While the confirmation of these nominees may not grab headlines like the cabinet-level nominees, everyone being confirmed right now is critical to the Trump administration and the work they’re doing for the American people.
My staff in South Dakota visited: Aberdeen, Belle Fourche, Gregory, Lower Brule, Spearfish, Sturgis, Wagner and Winner.
Steps taken: 52,890 steps or 26.31 miles during week one; 58,202 steps or 29.03 miles during week two.
Video of the week: I joined Fox Business to discuss the budget reconciliation and the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
The Minnehaha County GOP met last night to elect a new Treasurer. And just to be a helper, Minnehaha Chair Korry Petterson offered a suggestion..
Subject: Official Notice – Minnehaha County Republican Executive Board Treasurer Election
Good afternoon, Minnehaha County Central Committee Members,
I am writing to provide the official notice of the upcoming election for the Treasurer position on the Minnehaha County Republican Executive Board. Please click on the meeting agenda. This letter serves as your formal notification of the meeting, which will be held on May 12th at 6:30 PM.
I am pleased to announce that District 10’s South Dakota House of Representatives member, Bobbi Andera, has graciously stepped forward and volunteered to run for the Treasurer position. True to her lifelong dedication to service, including her time in the United States Air Force, Bobbi continues to demonstrate her commitment to our community and the values we uphold. Having worked closely with her during her campaign, I can confidently say she is one of the hardest-working and most dependable individuals I’ve had the pleasure of working with. I believe she will bring tremendous energy and integrity to this role.
As you’ll see in the attached agenda, the meeting will be concise and focused. It is my goal to respect your time by keeping the meeting to under an hour while still accomplishing all necessary business. Your participation is essential and sincerely appreciated.
After the meeting is adjourned, I will remain available to answer any questions you may have regarding the executive board’s recent activities.
Thank you again for your dedication and involvement.
Respectfully,
Korry Petterson
Chairman
Minnehaha County Republicans
In his notice, Minnehaha Chair Korry Petterson offered his suggestion for anti-vaxxer State Rep. Bobbi Andera to be the new Treasurer..
Which was resoundingly rejected, and previous Treasurer Spencer Wrightsman from several years back was brought forward to fill the role in a surprising move, since he represents a Minnehaha GOP from when it was much less of a circus.
Congratulations Spencer – I guess. It may be less of an honor and more of a front row seat for the chaos that is now the GOP in Minnehaha County.
Rounds Introduces Legislation to Advance Brain Cancer Research and Development
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Bolstering Research and Innovation Now (BRAIN) Act, legislation to advance research for brain tumors and improve brain tumor treatment and care.
“For me, the fight against cancer is personal. When my late wife Jean was courageously battling cancer a few years ago, we were already seeing encouraging progress in the development of new treatments for many cancers,” said Rounds. “I firmly believe we are years, not decades, away from seeing cures to many of the most deadly cancers. The BRAIN Act will allow us to continue capitalizing on the progress we have made so far by implementing programs and funding that will advance research and treatments for brain tumors. I look forward to working with my colleagues to get this important legislation signed into law.”
“After Brian was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the most common and deadly type of malignant brain tumor, his journey provided hope to a lot of folks in his community,” said Lisa Fulton of South Dakota of her late husband, a well-respected rodeo champion and father of three sons at the time of his diagnosis in 2006. “He literally got back on the horse the day we came home from five weeks at in-patient rehab following his recurrence and never gave up. Senator Rounds’ support of this landmark bill means the world to those of us affected by this life-altering disease. The BRAIN Act creates a framework to support research that could change the course of so many lives.”
The BRAIN Act is cosponsored by Senators John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.). Companion legislation was introduced in the U.S. House by Representative Lori Trahan (D-Mass).
BACKGROUND:
Today, more than one million people in the United States are living with a primary brain tumor. Despite major improvements made in the treatment of other cancers in recent years, incidence and survival rates for malignant brain tumors have remained stagnant for 45 years, with a five-year relative survival rate of only 35.7 percent.
In order to reduce mortality rates and make meaningful progress against brain tumors, better funding and collaborative research is needed. The BRAIN Act takes a comprehensive, complementary approach to meet this need and further advance research for these aggressive, hard-to-treat tumors.
Specifically, the BRAIN Act:
Click HERE to read full bill text.
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This caught my attention earlier this AM.
Former South Dakota Republican Party Chairman Randy Frederick is noted as the Treasurer on a new federal Super PAC that was filed today, the “Dakota Conservative PAC”:
Dakota Conservative PAC by Pat Powers on Scribd
The Federal independent expenditure-only political committee does not have a lot of information out there about it just yet…. However, given Randy’s friendship with Senator Mike Rounds, and the fact that it’s a Federal PAC, it could possibly be a mechanism to support the Senator’s candidacy. (Or not. I’m just speculating.)
That being said, there is ALSO a Dakota Conservative PAC at the state level that’s ran by former State Senator Erin Tobin, which would not seem to have any association at this time with Randy’s Federal PAC of the same name. Erin’s PAC has been around since late 2023, predating this PAC by 18 months.
I think we’re starting to run out of names.
The drama seem to be continuing over on the hard right, as literally no sooner did I finish my prior post on the infighting at the ripple chip group than someone sent me the latest missive from goofball mattress guy Chris Larson.
So goofy mattress guy Larson, a 2% Hansen supporter – is throwing shade at the 4% Doeden supporters, noting that they are the ones who caused an implosion of the Patriot Ripple Effect group, and that supposedly former NDGOP ED Dave Roetman has been “spearheading a stealth Doeden campaign” for months.
In Sioux Falls, there is a prominent group that formed roughly 4 years ago by the name of Patriot Ripple Effect (PRE). I was a member of this group for the past 2 years until about 6 weeks ago, when I decided to very publicly quit the group. My reason for doing this was not “to be divisive”, but to shed light on the fact that I had identified 2 sitting board members who were sneaking around doing campaign work for Toby Doeden. Toby has never been a member of PRE, nor helped them in any tangible way.
and..
I have made very clear my opinion that the heavily advertised astro-turfed campaign of Toby Doeden is being supported and helped along by hidden actors in the Establishment, most likely without Toby’s awareness whatsoever. I have no hard evidence to present to you at this stage of the game, but I feel it in my bones, and I suspect many of you do also.
In totally related news, the two Operators at the core of the near implosion of PRE and the Battle Royale that is taking place in the MCGOP have both been spearheading a stealth campaign for Toby Doeden these past 2 months.
and..
The man who nearly destroyed PRE is named Dave Roetman.
Read that for yourselves here. (and my apologies in advance that I sent you there).
So goofy mattress guy is saying the man who had a very, very short tenure in North Dakota because he suggested a black woman move to Wakanda…
is supposedly working to elect Toby Doeden, the guy who tried to bring Mark “I’m a Black Nazi” Robinson to Sioux Falls?
Okay. I got nothing here. This is just too much for words. If you get to November 4, 2026 and wonder “how did Republicans lose all those elections?” some of these characters might be the number one reason why.
A pox on all their houses.
Talking to people in Minnehaha County – there is a lot churning through the rumor mill of local level politics.
SUPPOSEDLY… the word tonight is that what people are calling the “Jennifer Foss” faction of the Minnehaha GOP, including Tom Pischke, Bridget Myers and Marsha Symens, are said to be planning an attempt to oust the current Minnehaha County GOP Chairman Korry Petterson by a secret/procedural agenda item addition to this evening’s meeting. Hence the cryptic notation in the Minnehaha County GOP status update earlier today that “there exists no provision for the executive board to remove a county chairman – NONE.”
The special election tonight is to replace the treasurer who resigned, and I’m told the Foss faction is making things miserable enough that the Secretary may be looking at resigning as well.. possibly making it 2 officials who have left in the few months since their election where Foss was completely ousted and denied the chairmanship, despite doing her best to tell everyone the slate that had been picked.
If they think they can oust the chair, and the chair disagrees that kind of puts things in question.
But – in those questions when one group says “I’m in charge” and another group claims that same title, it’s the State GOP Chair who gets to recognize who is the real chair. And I’m told that Petterson supported Eschenbaum for chair where the other faction supported Ezra Hays for chair.
So, you can guess how that’s going to go.
—-
Speaking of the 32 year Democrat and Obama supporter who now chairs the SDGOP, literally at the very last possible moment on top of the 5-day deadline to do so the state GOP announced an organizational meeting for the Jones County GOP where they are organizing and electing officers (Saturday, May 17th at 11:00AM, Central time, at Covered Wagon, 507 Kennedy Ave., Murdo, SD.).
I mean, why wait until the past possible second to announce a meeting, unless you were trying to prevent people from showing up to participate? It used to be that notice in the paper was required, as well as there being a longer notice period in order to give all Republicans an opportunity to take part.
But not in this version of the GOP. You’d almost think they were doing their best to make sure the fix was in. You would almost think.
—-
Today I heard this anecdote after someone was commenting under another post about Dave Roetman, the week-long ND GOP Executive Director, and questioning his continued involvement with the Ripple Effect group he and Adam Broin put together in Sioux Falls to try to oust incumbents.
So, after catching that, I did a little calling, and the rumor that was passed on to me was that about the time of the Doeden thing with the Ripple chip group last week, the board of the group went to chair Adam Broin, and related that either they needed to go, or Roetman did. And the choice was for Roetman. And they were said to have all quit.
Again – this is just as has come to me through the rumor mill, so take it with a grain of salt – the next day or soon thereafter, I’m told the president changed his mind, and reversed himself. And now supposedly Roetman is out, further highlighting the instability and factionalism of the hard right in the Sioux Falls political scene.
If you think about it, the group formed to take out incumbents may have just taken out one of their own organization’s incumbents. Just a little irony there.
—
And this seems like a good time to plug the Republican Roundtable organization in Sioux Falls, which hosts a monthly Sioux Falls luncheon of future-minded, solutions-focused Republicans, as opposed to the goofball antics of the Minnehaha GOP. It’s a reminder that there are still good Republicans out there who connect with community leaders – who themselves are willing to be involved with good groups who advocate for the common good.
As opposed to goofballs who worry about jet contrails, election conspiracies and themselves and will ultimately cost us elections in the long run.
Stay tuned.
Thune Joins My View with Lara Trump
“There is a great unity. President Trump and his team, Speaker Johnson in the House, Senate Republicans, realize that if we’re going to use this two years for our majorities – hopefully four – to the ultimate advantage, we’ve got to be able to work together in a way that enables us to get a lot of that agenda across the finish line.”
Click here or on the picture to watch the video.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined Fox News’ My View with Lara Trump.
Right after posting a canned message sending lots of love on Mother’s Day, late last night the Minnehaha County GOP got back to doing what they do best; providing endless entertainment by their infighting:
“The actions of rogue Executive Board members, including the Vice Chair, State Committeeman and State Committeewoman, in attempting to duplicitously sideline or undermine the County Chairman are not only procedurally improper but are also deeply damaging to the reputation of the Republican Party in our county and across the state. This wrongful behavior reflects a blatant disregard for both the rule of law as set forth in our bylaws and is an affront to the will of the Central Committee. Such divisive, misguided and power-driven conduct is unbecoming of our party’s leadership. If this continues unchecked, it will erode the trust of South Dakota Republicans and tarnish the integrity of our organization in the eyes of those we are supposed to serve.”
“We therefore respectfully call-on the elected Executive Board members to immediately end the repeated efforts to wrongfully undermine Chairman Petterson and his efforts to establish a functional board as we continue to move forward into the 2026 election cycle.”
In other words, the chair controls the social media, and he’s in a big old cat-fight with the Vice Chair, the Committeeman and Committeewoman… And they aren’t going to get a darn thing done, as part of the Minnehaha County GOP’s standard operating procedure.
Speaking of catfights, one of the commenters under a previous post was noting an item about the Patriot Ripple chip group:
Came to the comments to see if anything was said about patriot ripple; I guess they had an emergency meeting before the event with Toby and have all change of leadership?
So, looks like that organization is in complete upheaval as well.
Never a dull moment in Sioux Falls politics.
From the internet, it looks like Toby Doeden thinks May 28th will be his day to “scowl at South Dakota,” as he and internet provocateur Laura Loomer are blasting messages out this morning that he has an announcement coming up in Aberdeen on May 28th in Wylie Park:
In this clip, Doeden sent Laura Loomer a video clip of himself pacing back and forth in front of the podium, avoiding eye contact with the crowd at the Patriot ripple chip & dip group last night, as he – 4% Doeden – seeks to dash the hopes of 2% Jon Hansen to capture the mantle of the hard right in the 2026 gubernatorial race.
South Dakota businessman @TobyForSD had a meeting with grassroots leaders this week where he told them he will be holding a “Major Event” on May 28th to layout his vision for South Dakota.
Toby Doeden has been an outspoken supporter of President Trump. He has long been rumored… https://t.co/cnM4IZM5l1 pic.twitter.com/qFtlGFm1qA
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) May 9, 2025
Stay tuned.