He was one of the good guys, back before SD lost whatever objectivity it had left.

excerpt]Tim Johnson, three-term senator from South Dakota, dies at 77
Mr. Johnson earned bipartisan respect as a quiet workhorse attuned to the needs of his state.


U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) speaks on Capitol Hill in 2009. (Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP)

By Emily Langer
October 9, 2024 at 7:43 p.m. EDT

Tim Johnson, a South Dakota Democrat who served for nearly three decades on Capitol Hill — 10 years in the House and 18 in the Senate — earning bipartisan respect as a quiet workhorse attuned to the needs of his state, died Oct. 8 at a hospice center in Sioux Falls, S.D. He was 77. … The cause was complications from a recent stroke, according to Julianne Fisher Breitbeil, a former communications director in his Senate office.

Mr. Johnson suffered a life-threatening brain hemorrhage in December 2006, one month after the midterm elections in which Democrats won enough seats to retake control of the Senate with a 51-49 majority.
Had Mr. Johnson been unable to resume his duties, and had then-Gov. Mike Rounds (R) appointed a fellow Republican to fill his seat, the GOP might have controlled the chamber with Vice President Dick Cheney as the tiebreaking vote, a topic of frenzied — and, some observers said, unseemly — discussion at the time.

After eight months of rehabilitation, including speech and physical therapy, Mr. Johnson returned to work in August 2007, served out his term and won reelection in 2008. He declined to run again in 2014.

Mr. Johnson was known as a moderate Democrat, a profile that allowed him to go undefeated in a long political career in his solidly Republican state.

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Researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report.

By Emily Langer
Emily Langer is a reporter on The Washington Post’s obituaries desk. She writes about extraordinary lives in national and international affairs, science and the arts, sports, culture, and beyond. She previously worked for the Outlook and Local Living sections.follow on X @emilylangerWP