Wendell Tripplehorn is the Minority Leader of the United States Senate. Senator Tripplehorn threatened to withhold support from Josh Lyman's legislative plans after learning that heavyweight party precinct captains had been promised to John Hoynes for 2006.
On September 22, 2005, he announced he was running against Bob Russell, the Vice President at the time, for the 2006 Democratic Nomination; his campaign did not pick up much steam, and by the New Hampshire Primary he had withdrawn.