Stephanie Herseth Sandlin

Stephanie Herseth Sandlin is a member of the United States House of Representatives from South Dakota. She is the co-chair for the administration of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of Democrats who describe themselves as moderates committed to "fiscal discipline and strong national security" to use their words. Among her committee assignments in the House are those of Agriculture, Veteran's Affairs and Natural Resources. She voted against the House health care bill, H.R. 3962.

Born in 1970, Herseth Sandlin attended Georgetown University where she graduated with highest honors (summa cum laude) with a B.A. in Government. She then went on to receive a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center, later serving on the faculty of that institution.

After an unsuccessful attempt to win election to the U.S. House in 2002, she stood for election again in a special election in June of 2004 to fill the seat vacated by Representative Bill Janklow who had resigned the office. She won this election in a very close contest and then, in November of that same year, was re-elected to a full term. In subsequent elections for the same seat, she won by large margins.

Committee assignments

In the 111th Congress, Herseth Sandlin will serve on the following House committees: Veterans’ Affairs, Agriculture, and Natural Resources. In addition, she is also serving on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.

Source: Press release announcing committee assignments

Congressional caucuses

Herseth Sandlin is the co-chair for the administration of the Blue Dog Coalition. She is also a member of the Congressional Native American Caucus and the Congressional Internet Caucus.

Voting ratings

Organization	Rating	Source
AFL-CIO
American Civil Liberties Union		[1]
American Conservative Union		[2]
Americans for Democratic Action		[3]
Cato Institute		[4]
Christian Coalition		[5]
Human Rights Campaign
League of Conservation Voters		[6]
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People		[7]
NARAL		[8]
National Rifle Association
National Right to Life Committee		[9]
National Taxpayers Union		[10]
U.S. Chamber of Commerce

2008 Election

Candidate	Party	Vote total	Percentage
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin	Democrat	256,041	67.56%
Chris R. Lien	Republican	122,966	32.44%

Source: Federal Election Results - final official tally

Reference

• Representative Stephanie Herseth Sandlin - official Congressional web site