In the 109th Congress which was Senator Thune's first congress he was a part of the Senator received a DW-NOMINATE score of 0.53 which is essentially the middle for the Republican party. In more recent Congress's we have seen an increase in Senator Thunes' DW-NOMINATE score, meaning his voting has become more conservative. In the 110th the Senator scored a 0.553 which was a slight increase, then in the 111th the Senator scored a 0.576, then in the 112th we see a score of 0.6 and finally in the 113th the Senator scored a 0.623 which is his most conservative score so far.
There are a few possible explanations for this, first is that when Senator Thune came into office he took over for then Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle so he might have felt more inclined to vote based on that fact and then with more time that he spends in office he is beginning to feel as though he can vote more conservatively. The other possibility is that South Dakota itself has become more conservative and he strives to emulate that, I mean South Dakota did just elect Senator Mike Rounds making both of South Dakota's Senators from the Republican party which has not happened since prior to Tom Daschle.
Party Unity Scores
Senator Thune has had a most recent Party Unity score of 95.946 which says that he consistently votes in the same way as the party. His constituency and his party both have similar views on issues making it easier for him to vote with the party. His lowest score came in the 109th Congress and that was a score of 90.314 versus his highest score that came in the 111th Congress which was 98.464. This has worked very well for Senator Thune in being selected for the Chair position of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The party leaders put him there because they can trust that he keeps in mind what is best for the party.
ADA & Interest Group Scores
According to the ADA, Senator Thune agreed with them on 10% of their votes in 2014. One of the votes was relatively not controversial versus the other which was slightly more confrontational but Senator Thune voted based on his constituency which held the same view as the ADA.
As for some other Interest groups, probably one of his most loyal interest groups would be the National Right to Life Committee. The typically always unanimously approve of Senator Thune and his votes that he makes which is really no surprise at all since it is consistently assumed Senator Thune is pro-life even though he has not made it an outspoken decision according to VoteSmart.
As for the support Senator Thune receives from other interest groups, one can draw the conclusion that his support from interest groups directly correlates to the Republican party values as well as the state of South Dakota's values.
Crossing Party Lines
According to GovTrack Senator Thune was rated 28th highest out of 90 Senators for writing bipartisan legislation with 39% of Senator Thune's 33 pieces of legislation were cosponsored by both Democrats and Republicans. Senator Thune is also a leader in working with the House of Representatives, 11 of Senator Thunes bills or resolutions had a companion bill in the house which drastically increase the odds of the legislation passing. Senator Thune is also very good at getting powerful cosponsors on his legislation, 8 of Senator Thune's bills or resolutions had a cosponsor who was either the committee chair or the ranking member of the committee that the legislation was referred to. This is very helpful in getting your piece of legislation heard since it will most likely get scheduled to be worked on in committee. Finally, of the 241 bills that Senator Thune cosponsored a total of 39% were pieces of legislation that were introduced by someone other than a Republican.
Takin' care of business working on government tranparency
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