内布拉斯加州弗里蒙特——参议院多数党领袖、南达科他州共和党人约翰·图恩喜欢开玩笑说，为了让候选人赢得竞选，他会扮演他们需要的任何角色。
FREMONT, Neb. — Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., likes to joke that he’ll be whatever his candidates need him to be in order to win their races.
“我告诉我们所有的候选人，我既可以为你助选，也可以反对你，看哪种对你帮助最大，”图恩对“福克斯新闻数字频道”表示。
"I tell all of our candidates, I'll come out for you or against you, whichever helps you the most," Thune told Fox News Digital.
图恩这番半开玩笑的回应发表在他前往内布拉斯加州出席一场圆桌会议之前。与他同行的有内布拉斯加州共和党参议员皮特·里基茨，里基茨正与无党派候选人丹·奥斯本展开一场激烈的竞选。那场圆桌会议在一座坐落于连片玉米地中的波纹金属建筑内举行，这是这位参议院头号共和党人在本轮选举周期中对全国各地进行的多场访问之一。
Thune’s tongue-in-cheek response came just before he attended a roundtable in Nebraska alongside Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., who is running a tight race against independent Dan Osborn. That stop inside a corrugated metal building nestled among row after row of corn fields was among several visits the top Senate Republican has made across the country this cycle.
自从上个月参议院离开华盛顿特区投入竞选活动以来，图恩一直非常忙碌，走访了佐治亚州、南卡罗来纳州、佛罗里达州、明尼苏达州、内布拉斯加州、爱荷华州和俄亥俄州等关键州。但正当图恩在各地奔波积攒里程数时，参议院少数党领袖、纽约州民主党人查克·舒默却基本上不见踪影。
Since the Senate left Washington, D.C., last month to hit the campaign trail, Thune has been busy, hitting key states like Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio. But as Thune racks up miles on the road, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has been largely absent.
舒默已经转向了线上活动，而前总统巴拉克·奥巴马、前副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯等备受瞩目的助选大咖则纷纷涌入那些可能决定他能否实现民主党控制参议院野心的摇摆州。
Schumer has shifted to virtual events while high-profile surrogates, like former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Kamala Harris and others have descended upon battleground states that could make or break his ambitions of Democratic control of the Senate.
他最近的一场活动是在本周早些时候：为佛罗里达州众议院议员、美国民主社会主义者组织成员、正与佛罗里达州共和党参议员阿什利·穆迪竞选的安吉·尼克松举办的一场线上筹款活动。
His most recent event came earlier this week: a virtual fundraiser for Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, the Democratic Socialists of America-affiliated nominee running against Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla.
从密西西比州到密歇根州，地图上许多关键竞选中的候选人都在试图与舒默保持距离，或者直言他们不会支持他领导参议院民主党人。
Many candidates running in key races across the map from Michigan to Mississippi have tried to distance themselves from Schumer or outright said they wouldn’t support him to lead Senate Democrats.
其中一位候选人是密西西比州的地区检察官斯科特·科洛姆，他正在与密西西比州共和党参议员辛迪·海德-史密斯展开竞选。与舒默关系密切的超级政治行动委员会“参议院多数派政治行动委员会”已在该州安排了120万美元的广告投放，但科洛姆并没有热情迎接这位参议院民主党领袖。
One of those candidates includes Scott Colom, a district attorney in Mississippi running against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss. The Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC closely aligned with Schumer, has teed up $1.2 million in advertising in the state, but Colom isn’t welcoming the top Senate Democrat with open arms.
当“福克斯新闻数字频道”问及如果赢得选举是否会支持舒默时，科洛姆表示：“我不想陷入假设，因为我不知道有哪些选择，谁是选择。”“但我要说的是，我不喜欢我们的党由两个住在同一个行政区的人来代表，”科洛姆说，他指的是舒默和众议院少数党领袖、纽约州民主党人哈基姆·杰弗里斯。
When asked by Fox News Digital if he would support Schumer should he win his race, Colom said, "I don't want to get into hypotheticals, because I don't know what the options are, who the options are." "But I'll say this, I don't like that our party is represented by two people that live in the same borough," Colom said, referring to Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.
“我们需要了解美国农村的人。你知道，问题的一部分在于我们在民主党领导层中没有足够的农村声音，因为我们的价值观和愿景可能与纽约的人不同，”他继续说道，“我们需要确保我们的价值观和愿景成为民主党的一部分。”其他候选人，如密歇根州的阿卜杜勒·埃尔-赛义德或堪萨斯州的亚当·汉密尔顿，则更加明确地表示，如果他们进入参议院，将不会支持舒默。
"We need to have people that understand rural America. You know, that's part of the problem is we don't have enough rural voices in leadership in the Democratic Party, because we have values and we have a vision that might not be the same as the people in New York," he continued. "And we need to make sure our values and visions are part of the Democratic Party." Others, like Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan or Adam Hamilton in Kansas, have been more explicit in saying they won’t support Schumer if they make it to the Senate.
共和党人顺势利用了舒默与那些可能让其实现民主党控制参议院愿望的人之间不断加深的裂痕。
Republicans have leaned into that growing schism between Schumer and the ones who could make his wish of a Democratic-controlled Senate come true.
“如果你看看共和党人，全国没有一个参选的共和党人会说，‘嘿，如果你选了我，我会投票反对约翰·图恩担任领袖，’”俄亥俄州共和党参议员伯尼·莫雷诺表示。“但在民主党这边，几乎每个参选的候选人都说，‘如果你选了我，我将投票反对查克·舒默。’”“他们将面临一个巨大的问题，因为民主党人对舒默真的非常非常愤怒，”他继续说道，“所以他才是问题所在。”与此同时，随着参议院控制权的前景仍然悬而未决，图恩将时间奉献给了出现在任何候选人需要他的地方。
"If you look at Republicans, there's not a single Republican running nationally that's saying, ‘Hey, if you elect me, I'll vote against John Thune as leader,’" Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said. "On the Democrat side, you have virtually every candidate running saying, ‘If you elect me, I will vote against Chuck Schumer.’"
“我们走出去并四处奔走——只要能帮上忙，什么都可以做，”他说。
"They're going to have a huge problem, because the Democrats are really, really pissed off about Schumer," he continued. "So he's the problem." Meanwhile, as the outlook for control of the Senate remains in the air, Thune has dedicated his time to showing up wherever his candidates need him.
在政治硬币的另一面，图恩辩称，在对两党都至关重要的一场选举中，民主党一直在努力寻找自己的身份认同。
"We're getting out and about — It's whatever we can do to help," he said.
他断言，社会主义者是党内正在崛起的一派，“这给他们的领导层带来了问题。我认为无论是在众议院还是参议院，你都必须做出决定，这真的是我们想要成为的样子吗？这真的代表我们吗？”
On the other side of the political coin, Thune argued that the Democratic Party was struggling to find its identity in an election with high stakes for both parties.
图恩表示，舒默党内那支不断壮大的左翼力量可能会在一个原本可能对民主党有利的政治环境中引发问题。
He contended that socialists were the rising faction within the party, which was "creating problems for their leadership. And I think it's in both the House and the Senate, you're having to decide, is that what we want to be? Does that really represent us?" And that ascendant left flank of Schumer’s could cause problems in a political environment that could be leaning Democrats’ way, Thune said.
*“他们已经变得太左了，以至于真正脱离了这个国家的主流，”图恩说，“我认为这将在这次选举中伤害他们，因为在其他情况下，这本可以算是一个对他们来说相当不错的政治环境，但我只是觉得——他们的党真的、真的偏离方向了。”
"They've gotten so far left that they really are out of the mainstream of where the country's at," Thune said. "And I think that's going to hurt them in this election in what otherwise might be arguably a decent political environment for them, but I just — their party has really, really drifted."