Mike Rounds announces 2014 U.S. Senate candidacy

• Mike Rounds

Then-South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds talks to reporters in 2010 at the Capitol in Pierre about his eight years in office. (Chris Huber/Republic Photo)
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From left, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Stephanie Herseth, D-S.D., pose for photos together at the end of a news conference at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2005, in Rapid City, S.D. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission had just voted to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base. (AP Photo)

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Former Republican Gov. Mike Rounds officially announced his candidacy today for the U.S. Senate.

“I am here today to ask the people of South Dakota for their support and to allow me to work for them as their United States senator in 2014,” Rounds said in a news release issued early Thursday to the media, ahead of formal announcements in several South Dakota cities.

“Fourteen years from now, in 2026, the United States of America will celebrate its 250th birthday ... the United States of America that exists in 2026 will be created by all the decisions that are made between now and then,” he continued. "We have to make the right decisions.”

“During this campaign, I’m going to do a lot of listening, a lot of studying, and a lot of discussing with the people of South Dakota. I’m going to listen to their ideas and opinions on what the federal government should and should not do.”

The Senate seat sought by Rounds is occupied by Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat. Johnson has not yet announced whether he will seek re-election.

Rounds was sworn in as South Dakota’s 31st governor on Jan. 7, 2003, and was re-elected to a second term in 2006.

After serving as governor, Rounds returned to the private sector to work as the president and CEO of Fischer, Rounds and Associates, and insurance and real estate business with offices in Pierre, Rapid City, Watertown, Mitchell and Sioux Falls.

From 1991 to 2000, Rounds served five terms in the South Dakota State Senate. In 1995, he was chosen to serve as Senate majority leader, a post he held for six years.

Rounds and his wife Jean reside in Fort Pierre. They have four children and five grandchildren.

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