Former Sen. Tim Johnson, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in South Dakota, dies at 77
Former Sen. Tim Johnson, a centrist who was the last Democrat to hold statewide office in South Dakota and who spent nearly three decades in Congress, has died
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Former Sen. Tim Johnson, a centrist who was the last Democrat to hold statewide office in South Dakota and who was adept at securing federal funding for projects back home during his nearly three decades in Washington, has died. He was 77.
Johnson, who was first elected to Congress in 1986 and retired from the Senate in 2015, died Tuesday night of complications from a recent stroke, family friend Steve Hildebrand said in a news release. He was surrounded by family.
“Tim always quipped that neither the left, nor the right, had a monopoly on all of the good ideas, but that working together, we can find common ground for the good of our country," Johnson’s family said in the news release. "In his work and life, Tim showed us never to give up.”
That resilience was tested in 2006. Just a month after Democrats reclaimed the Senate by a one-vote margin, Johnson became disoriented during a media conference call and underwent emergency brain surgery. He’d suffered a life-threatening brain hemorrhage, sparking what many called an unseemly round of speculation in Washington about which party would control the next Senate.
