Former Senate Banking Chairman Tim Johnson dies at 77

Former Sen. Tim Johnson, D-D., who served on Capitol Hill for nearly three decades, culminating in his tenure as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has died at age 77.

His longtime former chief of staff, Drey Samuelson, announced Johnson's death on Facebook on Tuesday.

“It is with great sadness that I write these words: Our former boss, our good friend Tim Johnson, has passed from this life,” Samuelson wrote. “He died a few hours ago surrounded by his family, but also surrounded by the love and admiration that we have all felt for him for many years.”

Johnson came to Congress after the 1986 elections, filling a void left by then-Rep. Tom Daschle, D.D., who later became Senate Democratic leader, initially won his Senate seat. Johnson later seized the opportunity to join Daschle in the Senate in the 1996 elections, when he won a narrow victory over Republican incumbent Larry Pressler.

Johnson served three terms in the Senate before announcing his retirement before the 2014 elections, a difficult year for Democrats who subsequently lost control of the chamber. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., won the open seat after defeating his Democratic challenger Rick Weiland by about 21 points. Johnson's old rival Pressler also entered the race as an independent, drawing on Weiland's support.

When he was re-elected in 2002, Johnson almost didn't make it to Congress. He fended off a strong opponent from young Republican Congressman John Thune by just 524 votes – a margin of 0.1 percentage points. Johnson was the last lawmaker to defeat Thune, who upset Daschle in another close race two years later and is now in the race to become Republican Senate leader in the 119th Congress.

Johnson had health problems dating back to the Vietnam War era. He was denied entry into the military after an examination revealed a benign tumor in his left ear. Johnson had to undergo surgery to remove it, leaving him deaf in that ear. In 2004 he underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer.

His biggest health scare came in late 2006, when Johnson had to undergo emergency brain surgery after a congenital arteriovenous malformation caused bleeding in his brain and stroke-like symptoms.

Johnson was hospitalized for months, giving Senate Democrats heartburn after they had just won a narrow 51-49 majority in the midterm elections. He was never the same afterward, using a wheelchair or cane to get around Capitol Hill and speaking more slowly, sometimes slurring.

Johnson served on the Senate Appropriations Committee and eventually rose to become chairman of the Military Construction-VA subcommittee. He also served on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Indian Affairs Committee. And he has been active in agricultural issues — a top industry in his state — playing a leading role in the 2002 country-of-origin labeling requirements that were included in this year's farm bill.

He was perhaps best known for his role as Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee, which oversaw another important industry in South Dakota: credit cards. Johnson served in the state Legislature in the 1980s when lawmakers cleared the way for Citibank to move its credit card business to Sioux Falls, the state's largest city.

Johnson became banking chairman in the 112th Congress following the retirement of Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., the former chairman who led one half of the landmark 2010 financial regulatory reform package known as Dodd-Frank , was.

Johnson has been a centrist voice on financial services issues due to his home district and was the only Democrat to vote against stricter credit card regulations in 2009. But he also rejected the 2008 Wall Street bailout and did not try to reconsider the Dodd-Frank law.

Johnson also remained moderate on other issues. He won the support of the National Rifle Association in his 2008 re-election campaign and voted for the first major tax cut under President George W. Bush in 2001 and the 1996 welfare reform bill as part of a deal that President Bill Clinton negotiated with Republican leaders in Congress .