John Hoeven

John Henry Hoeven III ( HOH-vən; born March 13, 1957) is an American politician and banker serving as the senior U.S. senator from North Dakota, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Hoeven served as the 31st governor of North Dakota from 2000 to 2010.

In 2010, Hoeven was elected to the U.S. Senate, succeeding Senator Byron Dorgan, who chose not to seek reelection. Hoeven became North Dakota's senior senator in 2013 after Kent Conrad retired and was succeeded by Heidi Heitkamp, who was once Hoeven's opponent for the governor's office.

Before being elected governor, Hoeven was a retail banker who served in numerous executive roles at various banks, most notably as president of the nation's only state-owned bank, the Bank of North Dakota, from 1993 to 2000. He is on the board of directors at First Western Bank & Trust and has an estimated net worth of $45 million, making him one of the wealthiest U.S. senators. Hoeven has been the dean of North Dakota's congressional delegation since 2013, when Conrad retired.

Hoeven was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, the son of Patricia "Trish" (née Chapman) and John Henry "Jack" Hoeven, Jr. His father owned a bank in Minot, North Dakota, where he worked as the president and chairman. Hoeven's ancestry is Dutch, Swedish, and English.

Hoeven studied at Dartmouth College, which his father also attended. Hoeven belonged to the Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity and graduated with honors with a B.A. in 1979. While there, he played on the men's golf team.

After Dartmouth, Hoeven attended the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, graduating with an MBA in 1981.

From 1986 to 1993, Hoeven was executive vice president of First Western Bank & Trust, an institution his father bought in 1970. At one time, he owned 39% of the bank’s parent company, Westbrand, Inc. From 1993 to 2000, he was the president and CEO of the Bank of North Dakota, under governor Ed Schafer.

In 2000 Hoeven ran for governor of North Dakota as a Republican and won, defeating Democratic NPL nominee Heidi Heitkamp, 55% to 45%.

Hoeven was reelected over Democratic-NPL nominee Joe Satrom with 71% of the vote.

On November 13, 2007, Hoeven announced his candidacy for a third term and kicked off his campaign with stops in Fargo, Grand Forks, Bismarck and Minot. He was reelected with 74% of the vote over Democratic-NPL nominee Tim Mathern. It was the first time in North Dakota history that a governor won three four-year terms in office, though the record for serving is still maintained by Bill Guy, who served 12 years.

Hoeven's governorship included the expansion and diversification of the state's economy, which led to a 49.5% increase in the state's real gross domestic product. Beginning in 2000, he directed the development of a multi-resource energy program for the state with incentives in each energy sector, making North Dakota one of the country's largest energy-producing and exporting states. The state gained nearly 40,000 new jobs during his tenure. Wages and personal incomes grew faster than the national average. For a few years, the state led the nation in export growth. In late 2006, the state's reserve rose past $600 million, and it is now over $700 million.

In December 2009, Hoeven was the country's most popular governor. His approval rating stood at 87% with only 10% disapproving. In January 2007, Hoeven became the nation's most senior governor, having been inaugurated on December 15, 2000, as established by the North Dakota Constitution.

On January 11, 2010, Hoeven announced he would run in the 2010 North Dakota Senate election for the seat being vacated by Byron Dorgan. Hoeven defeated Democratic-NPL nominee Tracy Potter, 76% to 22%, making him the first Republican to represent North Dakota in the Senate since 1987.

Since 2013, Hoeven has been the dean of North Dakota's congressional delegation. As of 2018, he was listed as one of the seven wealthiest U.S. senators.

For his tenure as the chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in the 116th Congress, Hoeven earned an F grade from the nonpartisan Lugar Center's Congressional Oversight Hearing Index.

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

Subcommittee on Commodities, Markets, Trade and Risk Management

Hoeven was briefly a member of the Democratic-NPL Party before becoming active in the Republican Party as a district chair and volunteer. He has walked a conservative line on some issues and a moderate one on others, including increasing education funding, ethics reform, compensation for teachers, as well as increased funding on infrastructure. On August 10, 2021, Hoeven was one of 19 Senate Republicans to vote with the Democratic caucus in favor of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Hoeven supports decreasing access to parole for violent offenders. He believes that drug control policy should be a state issue, not a federal one.

Hoeven opposed the Employee Free Choice Act, which included a card check provision.

Hoeven believes that alternative fuels are a long-term solution but that increased oil drilling is required in the short term. He has been a vocal advocate for the Keystone Pipeline, falsely asserting that it has never leaked and claiming that environmental risks have been exaggerated. The Keystone Pipeline has in fact leaked twice, in 2010 and in 2016.

In 2015, Hoeven submitted an amendment asserting that climate change is real and that humans are contributing to it but also that the Keystone Pipeline would not contribute to climate change. His League of Conservation Voters score for 2018 was 7%.