Mike Rounds Bio
Marion Michael Rounds, known publicly as Mike Rounds, is an American businessman and Republican politician who has served as the junior United States senator from South Dakota since 2015. A longtime resident of the state capital, Pierre, Rounds built a career in insurance and real estate before entering public service in the South Dakota State Senate in 1990. He later served two terms as the 31st governor of South Dakota from 2003 to 2011 and currently chairs committees shaping federal policy on banking, housing, and emerging technology.
Mike Rounds Career
Early Career and State Senate (1990-2001)
Rounds was first elected to the South Dakota Senate in 1990, defeating incumbent state Senator Jacqueline Kelley with 53 percent of the vote in District 24, which was based in Pierre. He went on to win four more elections, securing 60 percent in 1992, 77 percent in 1994, 66 percent in 1996, and 75 percent in 1998. His colleagues elevated him to Senate Minority Whip in 1993 and then to Senate Majority Leader in 1995, building a record of party leadership.
During his tenure, Rounds represented Hughes, Lyman, Stanley, and Sully counties, advocating for the largely rural districts of central South Dakota. He was forced to leave the chamber in 2001 because of legislative term limits that South Dakota voters had approved in 1992. That departure cleared the way for his first run for statewide executive office.
Governor of South Dakota (2003-2011)
When Rounds entered the 2002 Republican primary for governor, he was widely viewed as a long shot. State Attorney General Mark Barnett and former Lieutenant Governor Steve T. Kirby were locked in a damaging primary fight over Kirby’s personal business investments. By staying out of the fray, Rounds won the Republican nomination by 15 points and chose State Senator Dennis Daugaard of Dell Rapids as his running mate.
On November 5, 2002, Rounds was elected governor of South Dakota, and in 2006 the Rounds-Daugaard ticket won reelection. During his two terms he served as 2008 Chair of the Midwestern Governors Association and joined the Governors’ Council at the Bipartisan Policy Center. In 2010 he established ten research centers at state-supported universities, and in the program’s first four years the initial five centers generated an estimated $59 million in federal and private funding with an estimated $110 million economic impact.
U.S. Senate Election and Tenure (2015-Present)
After Democrat Tim Johnson announced he would not seek reelection, Rounds launched his U.S. Senate campaign on November 29, 2012. He won the June 2014 Republican primary against four opponents and went on to win the general election, even as independent former Senator Larry Pressler and independent conservative former state legislator Gordon Howie complicated the three-way race. In 2020 he fended off a primary challenge from state Representative Scyller Borglum, winning 75 percent to 25 percent, and won the general election against Democrat Dan Ahlers with nearly 66 percent of the vote. On July 21, 2025, President Donald Trump endorsed Rounds for reelection on Truth Social.
In the Senate, Rounds co-chairs the Senate AI Caucus and was one of four members of the Bipartisan Senate AI Working Group led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. On May 15, 2024, the group released a report recommending $32 billion in annual federal funding for non-defense artificial intelligence development. He has introduced bills to establish a national biomedical database and to add regulation of artificial intelligence in financial services. Rounds also co-sponsored the Israel Anti-Boycott Act and the Employer Participation in Repayment Act of 2019, which lets employers put up to $5,250 a year toward employees’ student loans. In November 2024 he introduced a bill to abolish the federal Department of Education.
Notable Events and Milestones
On March 6, 2006, Rounds signed a South Dakota act banning nearly all medical abortions, one of the strictest such laws in the country; voters repealed it on November 7, 2006, the same day he won reelection. On January 9, 2022, he publicly stated that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen from Donald Trump, drawing a public rebuke from the former president. In 2025 Rounds appeared in the documentary film The Age of Disclosure, which examines UFO claims and supposed government programs involving recovery of non-human technology.
Mike Rounds Family
Family Background and Public Service Lineage
Rounds is the eldest of 11 children and was born in Huron, South Dakota, to Joyce Reinartz and Don Rounds. He has German, Belgian, Swedish, and English ancestry and was named for an uncle, Marion Rounds, who was killed in the Pacific theater during World War II. His father worked as state director of highway safety, a staffer for the Rural Electrification Administration, and executive director of the South Dakota Petroleum Council. Several members of the Rounds family have been involved in state government, including his brother Tim Rounds, who served in the South Dakota House of Representatives for District 24 from 2003 to 2011 and again from 2013 to 2021.
Personal Life
While attending South Dakota State University, Rounds met Jean Vedvei, who was from Lake Preston, South Dakota. They married in 1978 and had four children. On November 2, 2021, Jean Rounds died at age 65, two years after being diagnosed with cancer. Rounds is a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pierre and is active in the Elks, Exchange Club, Knights of Columbus, and Ducks Unlimited.
Mike Rounds Education
Mike Rounds attended South Dakota State University in Brookings, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in political science. He is a former partner in the insurance and real estate firm Fischer Rounds & Associates, which maintained offices in Pierre, Rapid City, Mitchell, Watertown, and Sioux Falls. In May 2011, South Dakota State University awarded Rounds an honorary doctorate for public service.