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Sen. John Thune

Assistant Senate Majority Leader and 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 is also Assistant Senate Majority Leader, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

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 Mar 14, 2019. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Committee Membership

John Thune sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Thune was the primary sponsor of 36 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 (19%) Science, Technology, Communications (17%) Health (16%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (10%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%) Agriculture and Food (6%) Native Americans (5%)

Recent Bills

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

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As Assistant Senate Majority Leader, Thune may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Thune’s Vote Vote Description
Yea H.J.Res. 31: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2019
Feb 14, 2019. Conference Report Agreed to 83/16.
This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019. On December 22, 2018 the 115th Congress was unable to reach a deal to fund some federal agencies through fiscal year 2019 after ...
Yea H.R. 1892: Further Extension of Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018; Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2018, the SUSTAIN Care Act of 2018; Family First Prevention Services Act.; Honoring Hometown ...
Feb 9, 2018. Motion Agreed to 71/28.
This bill became the vehicle for passage of funding for the federal government through March 23, 2018, to avert a government shutdown that would have occurred on February 9, 2018 had this bill not been enacted. The bill was introduced as the Honoring Hometown Heroes ...
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. 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 S. 3240 (112th): Agriculture Reform, Food, and Jobs Act of 2012
Jun 21, 2012. Bill Passed 64/35.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2005 to Mar 2019, Thune missed 45 of 4,291 roll call votes, which is 1.0%. 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.

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Primary Sources

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

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