Senate Republican Conference Chairman John Barrasso (R-WY) endorsed former President Donald Trump late Tuesday, making him the highest-ranking Senate Republican to get behind the former president’s bid to return to Washington.
Barrasso’s Tuesday evening announcement, which came during a Fox News appearance, makes him the 20th GOP senator to endorse Trump in the Republican primary. As the No. 3 Senate Republican in his capacity as conference chairman, Barrasso is the most senior endorsement Trump has secured in the upper chamber.
“When President Trump was in office, we had the best economy in my lifetime and most of our lifetimes, we had energy independence, our enemies feared us, and we had a secure border,” Barrasso told host Sean Hannity. “Under Joe Biden, we have high prices, we have a wide open border.”
Barrasso said in a subsequent statement that “President Trump and a new conservative-led Senate partnership will restore American greatness. That means putting freedom ahead of government power and economic strength over government subsidies. It means putting affordable, available, reliable American energy and American engery workers back on top.”
Prior to Barrasso weighing in, Trump’s top senatorial endorsement came from National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines (R-MT).
In addition to Barrasso and Daines, the GOP senators who have endorsed Trump are Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN), Katie Britt (R-AL), Ted Budd (R-NC), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Josh Hawley (R-MO), John Hoeven (R-ND), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Roger Wicker (R-MS).
In total, that makes up 20 of the 49 Republicans in the Senate.
About half of the Senate Republicans have said they won’t support Trump in the primary, with some backing Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who has since dropped his 2024 challenge to Trump.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who famously stopped taking Trump’s calls as he refused to give up his push to overturn the 2020 election results, has committed to not weighing in on the presidential primary this cycle. Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD), the No. 2 Senate Republican, had endorsed Scott but is now staying out of the primary.
The Senate GOP conference has many establishment Republicans with penchants for bipartisanship. Several of Trump’s GOP skeptics developed decent working relationships with the former president while in office.
Trump’s refusal to accept his 2020 election loss and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that ensued as a result left his standing with most Senate Republicans in near disrepair. Republicans went on to blame Trump for the party’s incumbent candidates losing their runoff races in Georgia, which handed Democrats control of the Senate.
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The former president’s GOP detractors grew more critical after Republicans underperformed in the 2022 midterm elections, only retaking the House by a slim margin and failing to regain Senate control.
Those same senators now face an uncomfortable reality: Trump is the clear front-runner in the Republican primary field and is performing ahead of President Joe Biden in some general election polls.
