North Dakota’s junior senator is Republican John Hoeven, a former governor who was elected in 2010 to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. Hoeven (HO-ven) was born in Bismarck and grew up in Minot. His father was a banker who in 1969 took over the First Western Bank & Trust of Minot, which became a family business. John Hoeven started working there as a bookkeeper at age 15. He graduated from Dartmouth College and went on to earn an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. In 1981, he returned home to become First Western Bank’s executive vice president. In 1993, he was chosen to head the state-owned Bank of North Dakota—a creation of the democratic-socialist Nonpartisan League—by a board that included his predecessor as governor, Republican Ed Schafer, and his 2000 Democratic opponent, Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp. Under Hoeven’s stewardship, the bank’s worth rose from $990 million to $1.6 billion, and its loan portfolio increased from $200 million to $1 billion. Read More

North Dakota’s junior senator is Republican John Hoeven, a former governor who was elected in 2010 to succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan. Hoeven (HO-ven) was born in Bismarck and grew up in Minot. His father was a banker who in 1969 took over the First Western Bank & Trust of Minot, which became a family business. John Hoeven started working there as a bookkeeper at age 15. He graduated from Dartmouth College and went on to earn an M.B.A. from Northwestern University. In 1981, he returned home to become First Western Bank’s executive vice president. In 1993, he was chosen to head the state-owned Bank of North Dakota—a creation of the democratic-socialist Nonpartisan League—by a board that included his predecessor as governor, Republican Ed Schafer, and his 2000 Democratic opponent, Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp. Under Hoeven’s stewardship, the bank’s worth rose from $990 million to $1.6 billion, and its loan portfolio increased from $200 million to $1 billion.

In 2000, after Schafer retired, Hoeven ran for governor against Heitkamp. He cited his work attracting and retaining local jobs, especially his roles founding Minot’s MAGIC Fund, a city sales tax used for business development, and organizing the effort to keep Minot Air Force Base off Congress’ base closure list. He called for economic development in the state with an emphasis on the technology industry and on improving education, and he pledged more money for teacher training and salaries. He won 55% to 45%.

As governor, Hoeven used North Dakota’s burgeoning state revenues to fund programs to stimulate economic development. In his first years, he combined several state agencies into a Commerce Department. In 2002, he announced an ambitious research and development program, borrowing $50 million to generate $150 million for university projects to help commercialize new technology. From 2005 to 2007, more than $40 million in state funds and double that amount in private funds were invested in the Center of Excellence in Life Sciences and Advanced Technologies and other research centers devoted to developing technology.

Much of this was aimed at exploiting North Dakota’s considerable energy resources, including oil, coal, ethanol and other biofuels, wind, and hydrogen. In 2002, Hoeven announced his EmPower North Dakota energy plan, aiming to build three new biodiesel plants by 2015 and to have wind supply 10% of the state’s electricity by 2015 (up from 5%). In 2004, Hoeven was re-elected, capturing 71% of the vote to former state Sen. Joseph Satrom’s 27%. In 2005 and 2007, Hoeven submitted budgets with reductions in local property taxes and big increases in education spending that targeted raising teachers’ salaries.

National Republicans had hoped for years that he would run against one of North Dakota’s two Democratic senators. He opted not to challenge Sen. Kent Conrad in 2006 and, in November 2008, won another term by easily defeating state Sen. Tim Mathern. Before the 2008 election, Hoeven brushed aside speculation that he would run against Dorgan or Rep. Earl Pomeroy in 2010, but did not pledge to serve out his third term. In January 2010, he entered the Senate race, criticizing President Barack Obama’s economic agenda and what he called an overly bureaucratic health care overhaul. “Washington’s approach is to put a 2,000-page bill between you and your doctor,” he said.

He didn’t have to campaign very hard. The Democrats barely put up a fight against a governor with an 80% approval rating in a state that had moved solidly to the GOP in recent elections. The Democratic nominee was Tracy Potter, a state senator from Bismarck who struggled without much success to raise money and get momentum. Hoeven spent $3 million on the campaign; Potter spent $28,000. Hoeven won easily, 76% to 22%.

As a freshman, Hoeven continued his focus on energy issues. He was an outspoken critic of President Obama’s decision to block construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline expected to run from Canada to the Gulf Coast. In March 2012, Hoeven offered a bill to re-instate the project. Though 11 Democrats crossed over to support the bill, it still failed to reach the 60-vote barrier for cloture.

As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Hoeven supported the farm bill re-authorization that passed the Senate in June 2012. The bill ended direct payments to farmers but included a new form of crop insurance favored by farm-state senators outside of the South. When Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. opposed the elimination of target prices that serve as a safety net when market prices drop, Hoeven worked with Chambliss and others to get target prices included in the final bill.

Despite his conservative viewpoint, Hoeven is not a free-market absolutist. After Hurricane Irene hit in the summer of 2011, he was one of 10 Republicans to support a $6.9 billion increase in Federal Emergency Management Agency funding. And when the Souris River flooded his hometown of Minot, Hoeven supported the use of more than $1 billion in federal disaster aid. He also showed willingness to cross party lines when he joined 14 other Republicans to vote for a re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act in April 2012.