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Sen. John Thune

Senator for South Dakota

pronounced jon // thoon

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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.

Photo of Sen. John Thune [R-SD]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 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 from Jan 6, 2015 to Jan 18, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Enacted Legislation

Thune was the primary sponsor of 35 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 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Thune sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Taxation (21%) Transportation and Public Works (21%) Science, Technology, Communications (16%) Health (16%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (9%) Agriculture and Food (6%) Environmental Protection (5%) Armed Forces and National Security (5%)

Recent Bills

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

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Voting Record

Key Votes

Thune’s Vote Vote Description
Yea H.J.Res. 43: Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the final rule submitted by Secretary of Health and Human Services relating ...
Mar 30, 2017. Joint Resolution Passed 51/50.
Joe Biden never got the opportunity to break a single 50-50 Senate tie in eight years as vice president. Mike Pence has already broken two. One from last month has since become law: a measure allowing states to withhold federal Planned Parenthood funding. (The other ...
Yea H.R. 5325: Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017
Sep 28, 2016. Bill Passed 72/26.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations bill which extended funding at the previous year's levels up to December 9, 2016 (10 weeks). After this, a continuing ...
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 (CARD) Act of 2009 is a federal statute passed by the United States Congress and signed by U.S. President Barack Obama on May 22, 2009. It is comprehensive credit card reform legislation that aims "...to establish fair and ...

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to Jan 2019, Thune missed 45 of 4,249 roll call votes, which is 1.1%. This is on par with the median of 1.2% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

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