John Hoeven

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{{Infobox_Governor |name= John Hoeven |image= Johnhoeven.jpg |caption= |order=31^st |office= Governor of North Dakota |term_start= December, 2000 |term_end=present |lieutenant= Jack Dalrymple |predecessor= Edward T. Schafer |successor=incumbent |birth_date= March 13, 1957 |birth_place= Bismarck, North Dakota |death_date= |death_place= |spouse= Mikey L. Hoeven |profession=Banker |party= Republican |footnotes= }} John Hoeven (born March 13, 1957) has been the Governor of North Dakota since December 2000.

A Republican, he was elected in November 2000, defeating Democrat Heidi Heitkamp by a margin of 55% to 45%.

Hoeven attended university at Dartmouth College, has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and was a banker from Minot, North Dakota prior to pursuing a political career. From 1993 to 2000 he was the president and CEO of the state-owned Bank of North Dakota.

He had no prior political experience before taking office. While Hoeven has been praised for moderate governance and raising teacher salaries, he has also been criticized for inactivity, and for taking credit for ideas first raised by others.

Hoeven's governorship has also included a number of high-profile lawsuits brought against the state on everything from water management to hunting licenses to prison abuse.

Hoeven faced Democratic challenger Joe Satrom in the November 2004 election. Hoeven won easily, by a vote of 71%-28%, gaining a second four-year term.

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Declines 2006 Senate bid

U.S. Senator Kent Conrad is up for re-election in 2006. The Republicans are currently trying to recruit Governor Hoeven to face him as he's widely estimated to be the only one able to pose a threat to Conrad. SurveyUSA polls showed that both Conrad and Hoeven had among the highest approval ratings of any Senators and Governors in the nation. A poll conducted by PMR (8/26-9/3 MoE 3.9) for the Fargo Forum newspaper had as result for a hypothetical matchup: Hoeven-35%, Conrad-27%, Uncommitted-38%.

This poll shows voter conflict between two very popular politicians in a small state where everyone knows everyone and party loyalty is often trumped by personality. On September 30, 2005, Hoeven officially declined a challenge to Conrad, stating, "A day may come when we ask the people of North Dakota to allow us to serve them in a different capacity, but that time is not now" (see [[1]]).

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