John Thune
John Randolph Thune is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Dakota, a seat he has held since 2005. From 1997 to 2003, he was the U.S. representative for. A Republican, Thune has been the Senate majority leader and Senate Republican leader since January 2025.
A South Dakota native, Thune is a graduate of Biola University and the University of South Dakota. He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1996 and reelected in 1998 and 2000. He first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, narrowly losing to incumbent senator Tim Johnson. In 2004, Thune ran for Senate again and defeated Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, making Daschle the first incumbent Senate leader to lose an election since 1952.
During his Senate tenure, Thune has served as the Republican chief deputy whip ; chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee ; Senate Republican Conference chair ; majority whip ; and minority whip.
In 2024, Thune was elected Senate Republican leader, succeeding Mitch McConnell.
Early life and education
Thune was born in Pierre, South Dakota, on January 7, 1961. He is the son of Yvonne Patricia and Harold Richard Thune. Harold Thune was a fighter pilot in the Pacific theater during World War II who flew the Grumman F6F Hellcat; he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after shooting down four enemy planes. Harold Thune flew his missions off the USS Intrepid. Thune's paternal grandfather, Nicholas Thune, emigrated to the United States from Norway in 1906; he partnered with his brother to run a chain of hardware stores in South Dakota. Nicholas Thune changed his last name to Thune from Gjelsvik because he was told by immigration officers that the name Gjelsvik was too hard to pronounce. Thune's maternal grandfather was from Ontario, Canada, and his mother was born in Saskatchewan.Thune was a star athlete in high school, active in basketball, track, and football. He graduated from Jones County High School in 1979. Thune played college basketball at Biola University in California; he graduated from Biola in 1983 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of South Dakota in 1984.
Early political career
After completing his MBA, Thune became involved in politics. He worked as a legislative aide for U.S. senator James Abdnor from 1985 to 1987. In 1989, Thune moved to Pierre, where he served as executive director of the state Republican Party for two years. Thune was appointed Railroad Director of South Dakota by Governor George S. Mickelson and served from 1991 to 1993. From 1993 to 1996, he was executive director of the South Dakota Municipal League.U.S. House of Representatives (1997–2003)
Elections
Thune began his political career in 1996 by entering the race for South Dakota's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Almanac of American Politics said that Thune "entered the 1996 race as very much an underdog." His opponent in the Republican primary was sitting Lieutenant Governor Carole Hillard of Rapid City, who benefited from the support of longtime South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow. A May 1996 poll showed Hillard leading Thune by a margin of 69%–15%. By relying on strong personal skills and the help of his old network of Abdnor friends, Thune won the primary, defeating Hillard 59%–41%. In the general election, Thune defeated Democrat Rick Weiland, a long-serving aide to U.S. Senator Tom Daschle, 58%–37%.Thune won his subsequent U.S. House races by wide margins. He was reelected in 1998 with 75% of the vote and in 2000 with 73% of the vote.
U.S. Senate (2005–present)
Elections
2002
In 2002, after briefly considering a run for governor, Thune set his sights on the U.S. Senate. He ran against incumbent Democratic U.S. senator Tim Johnson and lost by only 524 votes. One study concluded: "While the margin of victory was a mere 524 votes, getting into that winning position required a number of important factors, including Native American turnout, the ability of Johnson and his allies to more effectively use the ground war to get their message out, Thune's ineffectiveness on the air and lack of experience in winning competitive elections, low voter turnout in key Republican counties, the drought, and finally the presence of Kurt Evans. Evans, a Libertarian candidate who withdrew from the race, endorsed Thune, but remained on the ballot and siphoned away more votes from Thune than Johnson. Evans received only 3,070 votes, but that ended up being six times greater than the margin of victory." Despite the close results, Thune did not contest the election.2004
In 2004, Thune challenged Tom Daschle, the United States Senate minority leader and leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus. In early 2003, despite speculation, Daschle decided not to run for president the following year. CNN reported that the "announcement surprised even some of his closest aides, one of whom told CNN plans were being made for Daschle to announce his candidacy Saturday in his hometown of Aberdeen, South Dakota."The 2004 U.S. Senate race in South Dakota was the most expensive Senate race that year, with a total of $30 million spent, and the most expensive race in South Dakota history. It was widely followed in the national media. Thune, along with Senate majority leader Bill Frist, President George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney, described Daschle as the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda. "Thune was able to criticize 'Daschle for serving incompatible masters' and portray him, as Frist did when he came to South Dakota to campaign for Thune, as a partisan obstructionist and political heir to liberal icon and former Senator George McGovern of South Dakota."
Daschle's critics charged the Democrat with using filibusters to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees to the federal judiciary and of being out of step with South Dakota voters on other political and social issues: "The GOP had targeted Daschle, the Senate minority leader, claiming he had been the chief obstruction to President Bush on such issues as tax cuts, judicial nominees and the war in Iraq."
On November 2, 2004, Thune defeated Daschle by 4,508 votes, winning 51% of the vote. Daschle's loss was the first ousting of an incumbent floor leader since 1952, when Arizona Senator Ernest McFarland lost to Barry Goldwater. The loss made Daschle "the first Senate party leader in more than five decades to be voted out of office".
South Dakota native Tom Brokaw commented that Thune "ran a very strong campaign" to win the 2004 race. University of South Dakota political scientist Bill Richardson said, "motivated John Thune supporters went to the polls in large numbers, part of a massive South Dakota turnout. Unofficial results show nearly 80 percent of registered voters cast ballots." After Thune defeated Daschle, many Republicans regarded him as a "rising star with unlimited political potential".
2010
Thune was reelected without any opposition in either the primary or general election. Scott Heidepriem, the South Dakota Senate minority leader and a Democratic candidate for Governor of South Dakota, said, "We just concluded that John Thune is an extremely popular senator who is going to win another term in the Senate." The conservative publication Townhall commented that the absence of a Democratic candidate in the election marked "the first time in the state's modern history in which a major party has failed to field a Senate candidate".2016
Thune faced Democratic nominee Jay Williams, chair of the Yankton County Democratic Party. On November 8, he defeated Williams with 71.8% of the vote.2022
Thune "drew the wrath of Donald Trump for pushing back on the former president's false claims" that he won the 2020 presidential election. Trump called upon South Dakota governor Kristi Noem to launch a primary challenge to Thune in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in South Dakota; Noem declined. Thune also received negative feedback from Trump supporters for his position on the 2020 election. While Thune seriously considered retiring from the Senate, he announced in January 2022 that he would seek reelection to a fourth term. He was reelected with 69.6% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Brian Bengs.Tenure
On December 6, 2006, Thune was chosen by Senate Republican whip Trent Lott to be the GOP's chief deputy whip. After briefly serving as Republican Conference vice-chairman, Thune became chairman of the Republican Policy Committee in June 2009. The post was the fourth-ranking position in the Senate.In March 2009, Thune was one of 14 senators to vote against a procedural move that essentially guaranteed a major expansion of a national service corps. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill would cost at least $418 million in the fiscal year 2010 and $5.7 billion from 2010 to 2014. He was elected Republican Conference chairman in 2011, taking office in January 2012. The conference chairman is the third-ranking position in the Senate. In late 2011, the Mitchell Daily Republic wrote: "Thune's elevation to the No. 3 spot makes him the highest-ranking Republican senator in South Dakota history. Thune has served as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee from 2009 until the present time and was vice chairman of the Republican Conference from 2008 to 2009 and the Republican chief deputy whip from 2006 to 2008."
Thune's emergence as a conservative voice in the Senate gained him a profile in the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard that called him an exceptional politician who, unlike many of his colleagues, could communicate traditional conservatism, making him a popular alternative to the Tea Party.
In June 2018, Thune called on Special Counsel Robert Mueller to "start winding" down his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Thune is South Dakota's senior U.S. senator. The Senate Republican Conference selected him as majority whip for the 116th Congress, succeeding John Cornyn, who was term-limited in the position. He served as minority whip in the 117th Congress and continued to serve as minority whip in the 118th Congress.