U.S. Senator from South Dakota
Mike Rounds
Republican · South Dakota
Former Governor of South Dakota, elected to Senate in 2014. Focus on agriculture, banking, defense, and veterans' issues.
Record
Conservative Republican. Serves on Armed Services and Banking committees. Focus on South Dakota's agricultural economy, military installations, and financial sector regulation.
Legislative Record
Recently sponsored bills (8 on record)
- S.5139 — National Quantum Readiness Act of 2026 (Introduced, Jul 27, 2026)
- S.4991 — Homestake AI Act of 2026 (Introduced, Jul 15, 2026)
- S.4880 — Dismemberment Abortion Ban Act of 2026 (Introduced, Jun 24, 2026)
- S.3880 — Small Business Investor Capital Access Act (Introduced, Feb 12, 2026)
- S.3736 — Dakota Mainstem Water Supply Project Feasibility Study Act (Reported, Jan 29, 2026)
- S.3667 — Life at Conception Act of 2026 (Introduced, Jan 15, 2026)
- S.3578 — Financial Stability Oversight Council Improvement Act of 2025 (Introduced, Dec 18, 2025)
Financial Stability Oversight Council Improvement Act of 2025 This bill requires the Financial Stability Oversight Council, prior to determining that a U.S. nonbank financial company shall be supervised by the Federal Reserve Board and therefore subject to certain prudential standards, to first… - S.1473 — Stop Stealing our Chips Act (Introduced, Apr 10, 2025)
Stop Stealing our Chips Act This bill creates a whistleblower incentive program and establishes whistleblower protections for individuals who provide information to the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) related to violations of U.S. export control laws. Currently, BIS…
Notable votes
- Voted Yea on S.Res. 817 — S. Res. 817 (Resolution Agreed to, Jul 30, 2026)
- Voted Yea on S.Res. 817 — Motion to Invoke Cloture: S. Res. 817 (Cloture Motion Agreed to, Jul 29, 2026)
- Voted Yea on H.R. 6644 — Motion to Invoke Cloture: Motion to Concur in the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 6644 with an Amendment (SA 5823) (Cloture Motion Agreed to, Jun 18, 2026)
- Voted Yea on S. 2 — S. 2, As Amended (Bill Passed, Jun 5, 2026)
- Voted Nay on S. 2 — Cortez Masto Amdt. No. 5463 (Amendment Rejected, Jun 5, 2026)
- Voted Nay on S. 2 — Padilla Amdt. No. 5808 (Amendment Rejected, Jun 5, 2026)
- Voted Nay on S. 2 — Gallego Amdt. No. 5813 (Amendment Rejected, Jun 5, 2026)
- Voted Nay on S. 2 — Peters Amdt. No. 5763 (Amendment Rejected, Jun 5, 2026)
Recently cosponsored bills (12 on record)
- S.3138 — Veterans SPORT Act (Reported, Jul 30, 2026)
- S.3101 — SAFE KIDS Act (Introduced, Jul 29, 2026)
- S.5025 — Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia Act of 2026 (Introduced, Jul 16, 2026)
- S.4009 — Falun Gong and Victims of Forced Organ Harvesting Protection Act (Introduced, Jul 15, 2026)
- S.2904 — SHADOW Fleet Sanctions Act of 2026 (Introduced, Jul 14, 2026)
- S.4933 — Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Congressional Gold Medal Act (Introduced, Jun 24, 2026)
- S.2947 — Pray Safe Act of 2025 (Introduced, Jun 23, 2026)
- S.4066 — Safeguarding Women from Chemical Abortion Act (Introduced, Jun 23, 2026)
Voting analysis
Departure rates on Senate pages are not comparable with House ones, and this is the place to say so. The Senate votes on far more contested amendments, many of them offered by individual members precisely to force a division. A senator's percentage is computed against that denominator, so a figure that would be extraordinary in the House is ordinary here. Read Mike Rounds's number against other senators, not against the chamber across the corridor.
What the departures look like
Most of his are votes against amendments his conference supported — several offered by one colleague in particular, and nearly all of them rejected. A handful run the other way, on cloture motions and final passage. Amendment votes of this kind are frequently about whether a bill should be opened up at all rather than about the amendment's own merits, which is a limitation of counting them as policy positions.
| Roll call | Date | Outcome | Their vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| H.R. 7148 Paul Amdt. No. 4272 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 4272 to H.R. 7148 (No short title on file) · roll call 119 | Jan 30, 2026 | Amendment Rejected | Nay (party: Yea) |
| S. 2296 Curtis Amdt. No. 3697 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 3697 to S.Amdt. 3748 to S. 2296 (No short title on file) · roll call 119 | Oct 9, 2025 | Amendment Rejected | Nay (party: Yea) |
| S. 2296 Scott (FL) Amdt. No. 3535 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 3535 to S.Amdt. 3748 to S. 2296 (No short title on file) · roll call 119 | Oct 9, 2025 | Amendment Rejected | Nay (party: Yea) |
| H.R. 1968 Paul Amdt. No. 1266 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 1266 to H.R. 1968 (No short title on file) · roll call 119 | Mar 14, 2025 | Amendment Rejected | Nay (party: Yea) |
| H.R. 82 On Passage of the Bill H.R. 82 · roll call 118 | Dec 21, 2024 | Bill Passed | Nay (party: Yea) |
| H.R. 82 Paul Amdt. No. 3352 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 3352 to H.R. 82 (No short title on file) · roll call 118 | Dec 20, 2024 | Amendment Rejected | Nay (party: Yea) |
| H.R. 4366 Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Concur in the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4366 On the Cloture Motion H.R. 4366 · roll call 118 | Mar 8, 2024 | Cloture Motion Agreed to | Yea (party: Nay) |
| S. 3853 On Passage of the Bill S. 3853 · roll call 118 | Mar 7, 2024 | Bill Passed | Yea (party: Nay) |
| H.R. 7463 Paul Amdt. No. 1614 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 1614 to H.R. 7463 (No short title on file) · roll call 118 | Feb 29, 2024 | Amendment Rejected | Nay (party: Yea) |
| H.R. 815 H.R. 815, as Amended On Passage of the Bill H.R. 815 · roll call 118 | Feb 13, 2024 | Bill Passed | Yea (party: Nay) |
A quantum bill and a gold mine
Two of his filings concern advanced computing. One is a national quantum readiness act. The other takes its name from a former gold mine in his state — a shaft deep enough that it has been repurposed as an underground laboratory, and now, in this bill's framing, as a site for artificial intelligence work. Putting a data centre in a mine is a real proposal about heat, power and shielding rather than a metaphor.
Of the 8 most recent of those, 7 currently sit at Introduced.
The rest cover an abortion procedure ban, semiconductor theft, and capital access for small business investors. No committee roles are recorded for senators in this data, which removes the gavel-against-filings comparison that most pages on this site are built around.
Sponsored bills carry the Congressional Research Service's own subject classification. Mike Rounds's cluster into: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (1), Crime and Law Enforcement (1), Energy (1), Finance and Financial Sector (1), Water Resources Development (1).
Above the South Dakota Republicans
South Dakota returns two Republican senators, so this compares him with one colleague. He is the more frequent departer of the pair.
Among the 2 Republicans in the South Dakota delegation, the average rate of voting against the party majority is 5.5%. Mike Rounds is above that average at 7.4%.
Tenure and attendance
The tenure figure below needs a caveat. It counts Congresses, not Senate terms — a senator serves six years, spanning three Congresses, so the number shown here runs at roughly three times what a reader expects. His service dates from the middle of the last decade. Absences are modest.
First elected in 2015, now serving across 6 terms. Mike Rounds falls in the veteran cohort.
By the numbers
In the 119th Congress, Mike Rounds has 399 bills sponsored, 1907 cosponsored, 8 recent floor votes recorded.
Committee assignments
- Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
- Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Senate Committee on Armed Services
- Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
- Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
- Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
- Senate Committee on Appropriations: Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
- Senate Committee on Appropriations: Department of Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
- Senate Committee on Appropriations: Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies
- Senate Committee on Appropriations: Energy and Water Development
- Senate Committee on Appropriations: Legislative Branch
- Senate Committee on Appropriations: Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
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