'New litmus test' for GOP candidates could make long shot Trump dream a reality
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference following the weekly policy luncheon, more than a month into the ongoing U.S. government shutdown on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 4, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
NOTUS reports Republicans’ ongoing success at preserving the Senate filibuster may be reaching the end of its rope.
“Republicans running in Senate primaries have a new litmus test for who the Trumpiest candidate is: Do you support nuking the filibuster?” NOTUS said. “President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on Senate Republicans to abolish the filibuster — something that would require support from a majority of senators. Trump also made this push during his first term, but his efforts now have been significantly more intense.”
Republican Senate leadership, including Majority Leader John Thune, oppose ending the 60-vote threshold for most legislation, and there currently aren’t enough Republicans in the Senate who support removing it. But that could change in 2026, according to a NOTUS survey of Republican Senate candidates.
GOP candidates in elections across the nation were at least open to abolishing the filibuster, while others favored destroying it entirely. This included candidates in Kentucky, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire and North Carolina. Only Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr and former Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said nothing about the filibuster and did not respond to NOTUS inquiries.
Republican candidates Nate Morris of Kentucky, Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia and Michael Whatley of North Carolina showed support for eliminating the filibuster, with Whatley telling NOTUS: “All options must be on the table, including the removal of the filibuster, to move forward with Making America Affordable Again — cutting taxes for working families, lowering prices, achieving energy dominance, reindustrializing America, and bringing good-paying jobs back home.”
Morris, meanwhile, posted on X that, “Ending the filibuster is about getting tough. Democrats will end the filibuster. … [T]he only question is: Will Republicans be smart enough and strong enough to act first?”
Other voices open to removing the filibuster are already in the Senate and waiting for their chance, said NOTUS. Incumbent Rep. Mike Collins said in a statement that: “Modifying the filibuster would be the worst possible outcome for Democrats — voter ID, no healthcare for illegals, no cash bail, lower insurance costs and all of President Trump’s agenda would pass — and that’s what we need to deliver for the American people.”
But these upstarts could face Republican candidates like New Hampshire’s John E. Sununu and Scott Brown, who oppose eliminating the filibuster.
“The filibuster was created to protect the interests of states and protect the interests of small states. I’m not for getting rid of it,” Sununu told NOTUS in an interview.
Brown told WMUR that he likes Trump and likes “a lot of what he’s doing,” but believes the filibuster “is what separates us from the House.”
“[I]f we do that now — what if the Democrats are in charge in ’28, the presidency, the House, the Senate?” Brown added. “They’ll eliminate the filibuster for good. They’ll stack the Supreme Court, and then they’ll take the territories like D.C. and Puerto Rico and make them states.”
Read the NOTUS report at this link.
