On January 5, 2011, John Hoeven was sworn in as North Dakota’s 22nd U.S. Senator, following ten years of service as the state’s governor.
Senator Hoeven’s priorities in the Senate include working to implement national policies similar to the ones driving North Dakota’s economic success. He is committed to creating a business climate that fosters job growth and robust economic activity. Equally important to the senator are measures to reduce the nation’s budget deficits and debt. He believes a commonsense approach that fosters free enterprise and empowers people to innovate and invest will strengthen our national economy and create jobs for our country in a sustainable, ongoing way.
As a senator, Hoeven has been leading efforts to develop a comprehensive national energy plan similar to North Dakota’s EmPower North Dakota, a comprehensive plan that encourages an all-of-the-above approach to development and includes both traditional and renewable resources. Hoeven believes such an approach will lead to jobs, economic growth and true energy security for America. The senator’s work includes serving as the leading advocate for approving the Keystone XL pipeline and advancing measures that will eliminate outdated and unnecessary regulations that are prolonging the approval process and discouraging investment and innovation.
In addition, as a member of both the Agriculture Committee and the conference committee that negotiated the 2014 final farm bill, Hoeven played a crucial role in crafting and passing a long term farm bill that provides the nation’s producers with the certainty they need to plan for the future, as well as new tools to manage risk with enhanced crop insurance. The senator continues to work to make sure the farm bill is implemented in a timely and effective way.
Prior to his election to the Senate, Senator Hoeven served as governor of North Dakota for a decade. Under his leadership, the state expanded and diversified its economy and gained thousands of new jobs. North Dakota’s wages and personal income today continue to grow faster than the national average, and in recent years the state has led the nation in export growth. North Dakota regularly balances its budget, has set aside more strong reserves for the future, cut taxes, and invested in priorities like education, law enforcement and infrastructure.
As governor, Hoeven also placed a strong focus on developing North Dakota’s vast energy resources. Beginning in 2002, he initiated EmPower ND, a comprehensive energy plan for the state that includes all energy resources as well as a conservation component. Today, North Dakota stands as an energy powerhouse and one of the largest energy producing and exporting states in the nation. Currently, North Dakota produces more than one million barrels of oil a day and ranks as the second largest oil-producing state in the country.
Senator Hoeven was born in Bismarck. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1979 and a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University in 1981. He served as executive vice president of First Western Bank in Minot from 1986 to 1993, and served on many civic, community, and economic development groups. From 1993-2000, he served as president and CEO of the Bank of North Dakota, which grew from $900 million to $1.6 billion under his leadership.
Hoeven and his wife Mical (Mikey) live in Bismarck. They have two children, Marcela and Jack, and seven grandsons, Crew, Jaxen, Nash, Kip, Hart, Rhett and Dane.