# | U.S. SENATOR | PARTY | TENURE | LIVED | CITY | SEAT1 |
1 | Richard F. Pettigrew | REP2 | 1889–1901 | 1848–1926 | Sioux Falls | Pettigrew |
Gideon C. Moody | REP | 1889–1891 | 1832–1904 | Deadwood | Moody | |
3 | James H. Kyle4 | POP/R3 | 1891–1901 | 1854–1901 | Aberdeen | Moody |
4 | Robert J. Gamble | REP | 1901–1913 | 1851–1924 | Yankton | Pettigrew |
5 | Alfred B. Kittredge4 | REP | 1901–1909 | 1861–1911 | Sioux Falls | Moody |
6 | Coe I. Crawford | REP | 1909–1915 | 1858–1944 | Huron | Moody |
7 | Thomas J. Sterling | REP | 1913–1925 | 1851–1930 | Vermillion | Pettigrew |
8 | Edwin S. Johnson5 | DEM | 1915–1921 | 1857–1933 | Platte | Moody |
9 | Peter Norbeck6 | REP | 1921–1936 | 1870–1936 | Redfield | Moody |
10 | William H. McMaster | REP | 1925–1931 | 1877–1968 | Yankton | Pettigrew |
11 | William J. Bulow | DEM | 1931–1943 | 1869–1960 | Beresford | Pettigrew |
12 | Herbert E. Hitchcock6 | DEM | 1936–1938 | 1867–1958 | Mitchell | Moody |
13 | Gladys Pyle6 | REP | 1938–1939 | 1890–1989 | Huron | Moody |
14 | J. C. “Chan” Gurney | REP | 1939–1951 | 1896–1985 | Sioux Falls | Moody |
15 | Harlan J. Bushfield7 | REP | 1943–1948 | 1882–1948 | Miller | Pettigrew |
16 | Vera C. Bushfield7 | REP | 1948 | 1889–1976 | Miller | Pettigrew |
17 | Karl E. Mundt7 | REP | 1948–1973 | 1900–1974 | Madison | Pettigrew |
18 | Francis H. Case8 | REP | 1951–1962 | 1896–1962 | Custer | Moody |
19 | Joseph H. Bottum8 | REP | 1962–1963 | 1903–1984 | Rapid City | Moody |
20 | George S. McGovern9 | DEM | 1963–1981 | 1922–2012 | Mitchell | Moody |
21 | James G. Abourezk | DEM | 1973–1979 | 1931– | Rapid City | Pettigrew |
22 | Larry L. Pressler | REP | 1979–1997 | 1942– | Humboldt | Pettigrew |
23 | E. James Abdnor | REP | 1981–1987 | 1923–2012 | Kennebec | Moody |
24 | Thomas A. Daschle10 | DEM | 1987–2005 | 1947– | Aberdeen | Moody |
25 | T. P. “Tim” Johnson | DEM | 1997–2015 | 1946– | Vermillion | Pettigrew |
26 | John R. Thune | REP | 2005– | 1961– | Murdo | Moody |
27 | M. Michael Rounds | REP | 2015– | 1954– | Pierre | Pettigrew |
- The two U.S. Senate seats are named for their first occupants, Richard F. Pettigrew and Gideon C. Moody.
- Pettigrew considered himself a “Silver Republican” from 1897–1901.
- Kyle was elected as a member of the populist “Independent Party” in 1891, was a member of the Populist Party from 1893–1899, and joined the Republican Party from 1899–1901.
- Kyle died in 1901, and Governor Herreid appointed Kittredge to succeed him.
- Following ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, Johnson was the first U.S. Senator from South Dakota to be elected by a direct popular vote.
- Norbeck died in 1936, and Governor Berry appointed Hitchcock to succeed him. Pyle won a special election in 1938 to complete the final months of the term, making her the first woman to represent South Dakota in the U.S. Senate.
- Harlan J. Bushfield died in 1948, and Governor Mickelson appointed his widow, Vera C. Bushfield, to succeed him. She resigned in late 1948 so that Governor Mickelson could appointed newly-elected Senator Mundt.
- Case died in 1962, and Governor Gubbrud appointed Bottum to succeed him.
- McGovern was the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States in 1972, losing the general election to President Richard Nixon.
- Daschle was the Democratic leader in the U.S. Senate from 1995–2005, including stints as majority leader from 2001–2003 and as minority leader from 1995–2001 and 2003–05.