Senator John Thune's Marriage Has Been Haunted By Divorce Rumors

Republican Senate Majority Leader Senator John Thune once deemed Democrats "divorced from reality" over government spending. Maybe he had the D-word on the brain because of chatter about the state of his marriage, and little did he know that his endorsement of a very specific type of government spending would further damage his rep someday.

Thune woke up to a nightmare of his own making after making just one little tweak to the funding bill that effectively ended the long, drawn-out, sad saga that was the 2025 government shutdown. As reported by Politico, Thune's provision would allow Republicans who unknowingly had their phone records seized as part of former special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election to sue the government and collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in compensation. Suffice to say, merely overnight, the public figure became that much more — er, um, popular...?

Alas, it wasn't too terribly long ago that it was Thune's marriage that was the subject of news headlines everywhere. Back in 2004, shortly after he won the U.S. Senate election in South Dakota, rumors started flying that his longtime wife and mother of his two daughters, Kimberley Thune (née Weems), had either already filed for divorce or was making plans to file for divorce. Eventually, things got so bad that Thune's campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, had to set the story straight once and for all. "The rumor is totally and completely false. It is untrue. It just shows that there are still a bunch of folks out there who hate John Thune and are believing their own crap," Wadhams told an inquiring reporter for Roll Call's Heard on the Hill. So much for that old "where there's smoke, there's fire" adage.

Contrary to all of the hullabaloo in 2005, John and Kimberley Thune have always presented themselves as a united front throughout their decades-long marriage. The story goes that the pair first met while attending Biola University. (No uncomfortable age gaps, here.) They went on to say "I do" in 1984. And the rest is simply history. "Family is everything to me, and the one Kimberley and I have built over the years has continued to grow," he declared in an op-ed he penned in November 2018 while reminiscing on all the things he was thankful for during the Thanksgiving season — first and foremost, his wife and their family. Meanwhile, in 2002, Kimberley told the Yankton Daily that her husband was "a family man," and noted their nuclear unit was "the priority in his life." She added, "He always thinks of us first."

Unlike the old rumors that haunted their marriage, John and Kimberley's union has stood the test of time. On December 29, 2024, Thune took to Instagram to commemorate 40 years of marriage with his bride. "Then and now, you're still the one. Happy 40th Anniversary to the love of my life!" he posted along with two photos, including one from their wedding day. As it turns out, the couple's ever-growing Thune brood is now comprised of not only two daughters but six grandchildren as well. On August 20, a proud Thune wished his gaggle of school-age grandchildren a happy first day back to school. "The grands are back to school! Best wishes to our SD kids as they embark on a new school year and a special thanks to the teachers, administrators and staff for the investment they make in our children's futures," he wrote.