John Thune, Senator for South Dakota

Thune is the senior senator from South Dakota and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 4, 2005. Thune is next up for reelection in 2022.

He was previously the representative for South Dakota’s at-large district as a Republican from 1997 to 2002.

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2017 Report Card for Thune.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Thune is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Thune has sponsored and cosponsored. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

United States Chamber of Commerce: 90% NumbersUSA: 88% Americans for Prosperity: 87% FreedomWorks: 76% The Club for Growth: 70% NIAC Action: D Human Rights Campaign: 16% American Civil Liberties Union: 11% League of Conservation Voters: 11% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: F Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 0%

Committee Membership

John Thune sits on the following committees:

Chair, Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness
- Ex Officio, Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security
Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
- Member, Subcommittee on Commodities, Risk Management, and Trade
- Member, Subcommittee on Livestock, Marketing, and Agriculture Security
- Member, Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy
Senate Committee on Finance
- Member, Subcommittee on Health Care
- Member, Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
- Member, Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight

Enacted Legislation

Thune was the primary sponsor of 29 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Thune sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Taxation (20%) Transportation and Public Works (19%) Health (18%) Science, Technology, Communications (16%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%) Environmental Protection (6%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%) Agriculture and Food (6%)

Recent Bills

Some of Thune’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Thune’s Vote	Vote Description
Yea	H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017 Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
Yea	On the Nomination PN64: Alissa M. Starzak, of New York, to be General Counsel of the Department of the Army Dec 14, 2015. Nomination Confirmed 45/34.
Yea	H.R. 22: Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act Dec 3, 2015. Conference Report Agreed to 83/16. H.R 22, formerly the Hire More Heroes Act, has become the Senate’s vehicle for passage of the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act or DRIVE Act (S. 1647). The DRIVE Act is a major bipartisan transportation bill that would authorize funding ...
Yea	H.R. 1314: Trade Act of 2015 Oct 30, 2015. Motion Agreed to 64/35. This vote was on the bill in its final form as the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015.
Yea	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 18, 2014. Joint Resolution Passed 78/22.
Yea	H.R. 325 (113th): No Budget, No Pay Act of 2013 Jan 31, 2013. Bill Passed 64/34.
Yea	S. 3240 (112th): Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012 Jun 21, 2012. Bill Passed 64/35.
Yea	H.R. 4853 (111th): Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 Dec 15, 2010. Motion Agreed to 81/19. The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 (Pub.L. 111–312, H.R. 4853, 124 Stat. 3296, enacted December 17, 2010), also known as the 2010 Tax Relief Act, was passed by the United States Congress on December 16, 2010, and signed into ...
Nay	H.R. 627 (111th): Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 May 19, 2009. Bill Passed 90/5. The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009, or Credit CARD Act of 2009, is a federal statute passed by the United States Congress and signed by President Barack Obama on May 22, 2009. It is comprehensive credit card reform legislation that aims ...

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to Aug 2018, Thune missed 45 of 4,153 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is on par with the median of 1.4% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
2005 Jan-Mar	81	0	0.0%	0^th
2005 Apr-Jun	89	6	6.7%	93^rd
2005 Jul-Sep	76	8	10.5%	97^th
2005 Oct-Dec	120	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Jan-Mar	83	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Apr-Jun	107	3	2.8%	68^th
2006 Jul-Sep	73	0	0.0%	0^th
2006 Nov-Dec	16	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Jan-Mar	126	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Apr-Jun	112	0	0.0%	0^th
2007 Jul-Sep	119	2	1.7%	56^th
2007 Oct-Dec	85	0	0.0%	0^th
2008 Jan-Mar	85	1	1.2%	51^st
2008 Apr-Jun	77	0	0.0%	0^th
2008 Jul-Sep	47	1	2.1%	40^th
2008 Oct-Dec	6	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	118	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Apr-Jun	96	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jul-Sep	89	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Oct-Dec	94	0	0.0%	0^th
2010 Jan-Mar	108	2	1.9%	64^th
2010 Apr-Jun	96	2	2.1%	64^th
2010 Jul-Sep	44	1	2.3%	60^th
2010 Nov-Dec	51	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Jan-Mar	46	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Apr-Jun	58	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Jul-Sep	49	0	0.0%	0^th
2011 Oct-Dec	82	2	2.4%	61^st
2012 Jan-Mar	63	8	12.7%	97^th
2012 Apr-Jun	109	1	0.9%	47^th
2012 Jul-Sep	28	0	0.0%	0^th
2012 Nov-Dec	50	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Jan	1	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	92	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Apr-Jun	76	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jul-Sep	43	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Oct-Dec	80	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Jan-Mar	93	2	2.2%	72^nd
2014 Apr-Jun	123	1	0.8%	26^th
2014 Jul-Sep	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2014 Nov-Dec	96	1	1.0%	50^th
2015 Jan-Mar	135	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Apr-Jun	85	2	2.4%	69^th
2015 Jul-Sep	52	0	0.0%	0^th
2015 Oct-Dec	67	1	1.5%	47^th
2016 Jan-Mar	38	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Apr-Jun	79	0	0.0%	0^th
2016 Jul-Sep	34	1	2.9%	61^st
2016 Nov-Dec	12	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jan-Mar	101	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Apr-Jun	54	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Jul-Sep	53	0	0.0%	0^th
2017 Oct-Dec	117	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Apr-Jun	80	0	0.0%	0^th
2018 Jul-Aug	42	0	0.0%	0^th

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:

@unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
GPO Member Guide for the photo
GPO.gov/FDSys, for sponsored bills

John Thune is pronounced:

jon // thoon

The letters stand for sounds according to the following table:

Letter	Sounds As In
J j	jam
N n	not
O o	top
OO oo	soon
TH th	thin

Capital letters indicate a stressed syllable.

Sen. John Thune

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