Politics
Abdnor was the 30th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota in 1969 to 1971, and unsuccessfully sought the nomination for House of Representatives in 1970. In 1972 he was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican.
Abdnor ran in the 1980 election against George McGovern for the United States Senate. Abdnor claimed McGovern was out of touch with the state and he defeated McGovern by a large margin. In 1986, after winning a bruising re-election primary campaign against then Governor Bill Janklow, Abdnor narrowly lost his Senate seat to then-Representative Tom Daschle. He served as the administrator of the Small Business Administration from 1987 to 1989, and served in an advisory capacity for John Thune's successful campaign against Daschle in 2004. Thune had been a member of Senator Abdnor's staff.
Other notable members of Abdnor's staff who went on to fill important public service roles include John Hamre, Undersecretary of Defense; Jeff Trandahl, Clerk of the House; Bruce Knight, Undersecretary, Marketing and Regulatory Programs, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA); Larry Parkinson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement and Security, U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI); Phil Hogen, Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC); Vern Larson, South Dakota State Treasurer and Auditor; South Dakota State Senators Mike Vehle and Scott Heidepriem; South Dakota State Representatives Sean O'Brien and Lee Schoenbeck; Charlotte Fischer, South Dakota Public Utilities Commissoner; Roland Dolly, Commissioner of Economic Development for the State Of South Dakota; and Stephen Censky, CEO of the American Soybean Association.
Read more about this topic: James Abdnor
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