I have been saying for a long time that he is not. These rumors got started when Dusty Johnson had a cow over Borglum running against Rounds in the primary. At the time, the assumptions going around were that Rounds would NOT run and Dusty would run for that seat while TenHaken or someone else would run for Congress. There seems to be a lot of ‘grooming’ going on.
There is also the obvious, Jean Rounds’ continued health issues (which I’m sure would be part of the reason he decides to not run – even though I think the plan was floated before she got ill).
Many have been wondering though about his continued fundraising? There is a simple solution to that, he can transfer those funds to anyone else, so why would he NOT continue to fundraise?
But what if he does run in the primary and wins, but decides to drop out after that? I’m not sure how the rules would work, but I think the SD GOP delegates could pick a candidate, and if they were smart, they would choose the candidate who came in second in the Republican primary. But that may NOT be the case.
Ethically, most would say Rounds would drop out before the primary, but this guy hasn’t had an ethical bone in his body his entire time as a public servant, so I would not put it past him to run and win the primary than drop out. I have often felt that Rounds was more corrupt than Janklow by two-fold. He had many scandals throughout his governorship and it shocked my he got elected to the Senate to begin with.
But some wonder why he would not run again. There are some pretty obvious reasons besides Jean’s health. Rounds doesn’t like DC and has a very large family he is not seeing as much as he would like. It’s also a long term, 6 years. It’s hard to make plans for the future when have those kind of terms. He got some legislation thru he wanted that benefits his private insurance business. And lastly, Marion Mike Rounds does what is good for him, that is why he is such a devote fan of Trump. While Thune-Bag and Howdy Doody sometimes waiver on their support for Donny, Rounds is always quick to defend him.
Mike got what he wanted out of his Senate seat, and now he is ready to boot scoot along. Maybe this will give him time to explain to us how you can shoot yourself using a shotgun and a 5-foot branch.
If he does drop out, it will be one of my better political predictions in a very long time.