Former Sen. Tim Johnson, the last Democrat to hold statewide office in South Dakota, dies at 77

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Former Sen. Tim Johnson, a centrist who was the last Democrat to hold statewide office in South Dakota and who spent nearly three decades in Congress, has died. He was 77. Johnson, who was first elected to Congress in 1986 and retired from the Senate in 2015, died Tuesday night in Sioux Falls of complications from a recent stroke, family friend Steve Hildebrand said Wednesday in a news release. During his time in Washington, Johnson proved adept at security federal funding for projects in his home state. Democrats couldn’t always count on Johnson’s vote, as he bucked his party by supporting bans on abortions late in pregnancies and flag desecration.