Mike Rounds, the former two-term Republican governor of South Dakota, announced on Thursday that he will run for U.S. Senate in 2014, the Argus Leader of Sioux Falls, S.D. reports.
Three-term incumbent Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) will be up for re-election in 2014, but he has not yet announced if he will run. Johnson suffered a life-threatening brain hemorage in late 2006, but he recovered from the scare to return to the Senate. He won re-election in 2008 by a resounding margin.
Rounds, who was popular throughout his eight years in the governor’s office, launched an exploratory committee for a potential Senate run in September.