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John Thune (R-S.D.)

U.S. Senator (since January 2005)

(Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Why He Matters

Thune, South Dakota's Republican senator, came into Congress bulletproof in 2004: he had just defeated Sen. Tom Daschle, the Democratic minority leader in a political landmark that was the first time anyone had defeated a sitting Senate party leader since 1952.

Thune, who had been in the House of Representatives, benefited from his close relationship with President George W. Bush during his campaign, but distanced himself from the unpopular president before Bush left office in 2008.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: U.S. Representative (1996 to 2002); Executive Director of the South Dakota Municipal League (1993 to 1996); State Railroad Director (1991 to 1993)
Birthday: Jan. 7, 1961
Hometown: Pierre, South Dakota
Alma Mater: Biola University, B.A., 1983; M.B.A from the University of South Dakota, 1984
Spouse: Kimberley Weems
Religion: Baptist
Committees: Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry ; Armed Services ; Commerce, Science and Transportation ; Small Business ; Budget ; Finance
DC Office: United States Senate SR-493, 202-224-2321

State Offices: Sioux Falls, 605-334-9596; Rapid City, 605-348-7551; Aberdeen, 605-225-8823
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Path to Power

Thune's grandfather arrived at Ellis Island from Norway speaking only two English words, according to Thune: "apple pie" and "coffee." Since Nicolai Gjelsvik was thought too hard to pronounce, he became Nick Thune and moved to South Dakota to build a railroad and ultimately open a hardware store.

The fourth of five children, Thune was born Jan. 7, 1961, in Pierre, S.D. He grew up in a religious household in Murdo, a tiny town on the road to Mount Rushmore. In 1983, he earned a B.A. at Biola University, an evangelical Christian school in California, and in 1984 he got his MBA at the University of South Dakota.

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According to a widely-repeated story, Thune's political trajectory began when a local saw Thune make five of six free throws in a high-school basketball game and remarked, "I noticed you missed one." The spectator was Rep. James Abdnor (R-S.D.). Thune and Abdnor kept in touch until Thune graduated from college and took a job working for Abdnor, then a senator, in Washington. When Abdnor lost a reelection bid to Tom Daschle, Thune was appointed by President Reagan to follow Abdnor to the Small Business Administration.

In 1989 Thune moved back to South Dakota to become the executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party. From 1991 to 1993 he worked as the State Railroad Director; from 1993 to 1996 he was the executive director of the South Dakota Municipal League.

Joining the U.S. House

Thune was first elected to Congress in 1996, when he knocked off the state's lieutenant governor in the GOP primary and made the then in-vogue promise to serve just three House terms. He was reelected in 1998 with the highest margin in South Dakota history, 75 to 25 percent. When his 3rd term ended in 2002, observers didn't expect him to completely leave politics and they weren't disappointed.

Thune announced his intention to challenge Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) for his Senate seat despite what seemed to be good odds for a race for the governor's mansion. Thune lost to Johnson by 524 votes in 2002's closest race in the nation. Thune said he had no regrets. "[The Governor's race] would've been a layup," he said. "Instead, I chose to shoot the three-pointer."

Not long after his loss, Thune began a two-year stint as a self-employed (and well-paid) lobbyist.

Daschle vs. Thune

In 2004, with the urging of President George W. Bush, Thune announced that he was running for the Senate again, this time for the state's other seat against Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), the minority leader. Thune pointed to Daschle's $1.9 million home in Washington as evidence that Daschle was out of touch with South Dakota. Daschle sued Thune and the state Republican Party for allegedly intimidating traditionally Democratic American Indian voters.

With plenty of national GOP help, Thune narrowly won what was a bitter contest, 51 to 49 percent, and became the first candidate to defeat a sitting Senate party leader in more than 50 years. The contest cost a total of $35 million.

The Issues

Thune voted with the majority of Republicans 96 percent of the time in the 111th Congress.In 2002, he welcomed popular President George W. Bush to South Dakota to campaign on his behalf. As the president's approval rating dropped, so did Thune's public declarations of support. He opposed Bush's appointment of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations and voted against the Central American Free Trade Agreement which the White House favored.

TARP Vote

In a vote that's likely to haunt him politically if he runs for president in 2012, Thune voted for the $700 billion bailout Wall Street bailout package in fall 2008.

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"It would have been easy to do the 'politically popular' thing and vote against this bill, but for me it would not have been the responsible thing to do. Without intervention, our credit markets will freeze, our economy will grind to a halt, and the impact will be severe and felt by every South Dakotan," Thune said on the day of the vote.

When asked on the Christian Broadcasting Network about the vote, Thune said he hoped he would be judged by conservatives on the "totality of his record."

Voting for TARP, Thune said, "goes against every fiber of my body as a conservative. Many of us held our noses and supported it, but are extremely uncomfortable with how it got used. And I think that's a lesson for us in the future. Don't get fooled again but I do think in the end, you're judged on the totality of your record."

Transportation

Thune faced criticism early in his Senate term for adding measures to a transportation bill that would benefit railroads - just a short time after he had served as a lobbyist for railroads in South Dakota. He said his experience lobbying, as well as serving as South Dakota's railroad director for two years, had given him transferable expertise.

Social Issues

Thune's positions on wedge issues endear him to social conservatives. He has voted to prohibit late-term abortions, against federal funding for abortions and against research on embryos.

He has also supported adding an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that states that a marriage is between a man and a woman.

In February 2011, while considering a 2012 presidential run, Thune told the Christian Broadcasting Network that social issues shouldn't be "trivialized" in the next presidential race.

"I think there are issues that people feel deeply about, and they're profound issues. The issues of life. The issues of family. And I don't think we can minimize those in the debate. For any conservative or any Republican to get elected to office, you have to have the support and hopefully the energetic support of people who care passionately about the social issues. So, they're important. And we shouldn't trivialize that."

The Network

Thune endorsed Sen. John McCain early in 2007, before the early 2008 presidential primaries. Though Thune is seen as more socially conservative than McCain, he said he liked McCain's consistent stance against abortion rights and his assurance that he would appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court "guys like [Chief Justice John] Roberts and [Justice Samuel] Alito," both George W. Bush appointees.

Coming from a state with only a three-person delegation, Thune has found it necessary to work with the state's senior senator, Tim Johnson. He was a big booster of freshman Rep. Kristi Noem (R-S.D.), who knocked off the state's at-large incumbent, Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-S.D.), in 2010.

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