Top Republican senator says faith is ‘the foundation for pretty much everything I do’

South Dakota Sen. John Thune speaks about his faith to “EWTN News Nightly” on June 24, 2024. / Credit: “EWTN News Nightly”

CNA Staff, Jun 25, 2024 / 14:15 pm (CNA).

An aspiring GOP U.S. Senate leader told EWTN News this week about the indispensable role faith plays in his life, saying that “starting off the day in prayer is critical to every day.”

Pro-life Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, a potential candidate for the role of Senate Republican leader, told “EWTN News Nightly” on Monday that “at an early age, I made a profession of faith in Christ, and that’s been the foundation for pretty much everything I do.”

Thune serves as the Senate Republican whip, the No. 2 position in Senate Republican leadership, and aspires to take on the role of leader once Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell — currently the minority leader — leaves the post in November.

Thune told “EWTN News Nightly” reporter Erik Rosales on Monday that his parents became Christians “later in life.”

“They were in their 30s, but a friend of my dad’s from high school got them involved in a Bible study,” he said. “They were having some struggles in their marriage and their lives — and they found the Lord that way.” 

Thune said he stays grounded by reading Scripture every day. 

“Starting off the day in prayer is critical to every day,” he explained. “In a lot of cases, it’s asking for wisdom. This is a job where there are a lot of things coming at you and being able to discern what’s true from what’s false, knowing right and wrong, and asking for the Lord’s guidance on that.” 

“It says in James 1:5 [that] if any man asks for wisdom, God will give it to him,” the senator pointed out.

Staunchly pro-life, Thune this month attempted to pass the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, though Senate Democrats stymied the measure.

“It says in Psalm 139 that [God] formed our inward parts, wove us in our mother’s womb, that we are fearfully and wonderfully made, and that my soul knows it very well,” Thune said on Monday. 

“I think that the clear articulation of that as part of our Judeo-Christian heritage is something that shapes the way I view the issue,” he said. “But there’s just, for me, an intuitive instinctive sense of right and wrong on that issue.”

When asked what he wants to bring to the Republican Party if he is elected leader, Thune said he wants to present “solutions and results.”

“I want to be a hopeful, optimistic leader, a leader who’s willing to do hard things, make hard decisions, and a leader who comes with strong convictions and doesn’t shy away from or back down from a fight but at the same time understands that this is a country that’s a democracy, and there are going to be a lot of people at different points of view,” he said.

“At the end, you have to try and figure out how to get solutions and results for the American people,” Thune added. “That doesn’t mean you’re always going to get everything you want.”