John Thune
Senator · R-SD
OverviewMoney & Influence
72% of Thune's money comes from outside SD.
The majority of funding comes from donors who cannot vote for this member.
$3.0M raised$589 avg donation28% from SD
Key Findings
72% of donations come from outside SD
A supermajority of John Thune's funding comes from donors who cannot vote for them.
44% of PAC money comes from industries this member's committee regulates
A significant share of funding comes from industries directly affected by this member's legislative authority.
54% of money comes from large donors (>$1,000)
A significant share of funding comes from major individual donors.
No revolving door connections detected
No former staff were matched to registered lobbyists.
How Does Money Flow Through Congress?
An interactive guide to the influence pipeline
Show ↓
How Does Money Flow Through Congress?
An interactive guide to the influence pipeline
How It Works
The Influence Pipeline
How money flows to — and through — John Thune's office.
01
The Company
A corporation wants a law passed or blocked.
02
The PAC
Direct donations are illegal. So employees pool money into a Political Action Committee.
03
The Target
PACs fund members on committees that regulate their industry.
04
⚖️
The Committee
These committees write the laws that affect the donor's business.
07
🗳️
The Vote
Your representative votes — and the pattern is clear.
06
📋
The Lobbying
Those lobbyists push specific bills before their former colleagues.
05
🚪
The Revolving Door
Former staff become lobbyists for the same industries that fund their old boss.
The cycle repeats.
01
The Company
A corporation wants a law passed or blocked.
02
The PAC
Direct donations are illegal. So employees pool money into a Political Action Committee.
03
The Target
PACs fund members on committees that regulate their industry.
04
⚖️
The Committee
These committees write the laws that affect the donor's business.
05
🚪
The Revolving Door
Former staff become lobbyists for the same industries that fund their old boss.
06
📋
The Lobbying
Those lobbyists push specific bills before their former colleagues.
07
🗳️
The Vote
Your representative votes — and the pattern is clear.
The cycle repeats.
Follow the Money
Thune's leadership PAC raised $11.7M — more than individual donors contributed directly. Finance is the largest PAC sector at $545K from 210 PACs.
Industry PACs
$1.6MWhich sectors fund this member
Leadership PACs
$11.7MHow much power this member brokers
Heartland Values Pac
Raised: $2.2MSpent: $1.7M
Commonsense, Conservative Values Pac
Raised: $199KSpent: $113K
Commonsense, Conservative Values Pac
Raised: $379KSpent: $580K
Heartland Values Pac
Raised: $3.4MSpent: $2.4M
Commonsense, Conservative Values Pac
Raised: $349KSpent: $64K
Top Individual Donors
$1.9MNamed people writing checks
Harms, Duane D↗$17K
SD · Harms Oil Company · 5xNess, Larry F↗$17K
SD · First Dakota National Bank · 6xBell, Richard R↗$17K
NE · Hdr Engineering · 3xCA · Route One Investment Company Lp · 3x
CA · Candy Bomber Llc · 4x
NY · Homemaker · 2x
Thune
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Commerce, Science, and Transportation
Votes Cast by Policy Area
Economics and Public Finance
207
International Affairs
83
Armed Forces and National Security
68
Health
35
Transportation and Public Works
35
Taxation
29
Deep Dive
How we built this & what it doesn't prove
- • Donor data from FEC filings (9.47M individual contributions)
- • Voting records from Congress.gov roll call data
- • Lobbying data from Senate LDA filings
- • Staff employment from House disbursement records
Correlation between donations and votes does not prove causation. Members may vote in alignment with donors because they share genuine policy beliefs, not because of financial influence. We present the connections — you decide what they mean.