Runoffs extend campaigns, add to political drama
Hang on, political junkies — Election Day is over, but a state and local race are ongoing.
Runoffs for the Republican nomination for governor and for the nonpartisan post of mayor of Sioux Falls are required. Both races went into overtime when the first-place finisher didn’t reach the required minimum. That will provide a great deal of political machinations.
Aberdeen businessman and political newcomer Toby Doeden led with 31% of the votes, followed by Gov. Larry Rhoden, who garnered 25%, Congressman Dusty Johnson with 23%, and state House Speaker Jon Hansen, who finished fourth with 21%. State law mandates 35% to clinch the nomination.
Doeden, a potential Brawny paper towels spokesmodel if this political thing doesn’t work out, invested $4 million to rise from an unknown to the frontrunner for the GOP gubernatorial nod. He finished first, ahead of three prominent Republican officials.
“I said we were going to prove them wrong. That’s exactly what we’re doing,” Doeden said Tuesday night. “Clearly we’re in a very good, strong position. And we feel more confident than ever that I’m going to be the next governor of the great state of South Dakota.”
Rhoden claimed second and moved to the July 28 runoff, a black cowboy hat perched on his head as he rides into the biggest political challenge of his life.
Doeden is counting on an anti-government wave to lead state government. That’s a typical populist technique, and one that President Trump utilized for the last decade.
Doeden, scowling in most photos, appears to want to embrace a tough-guy image.
Rhoden is the third governor to serve without being elected to the office. Unlike Democrat Harvey Wollman in 1978 and Republican Walter Dale Miller in 1994, he still has the chance to be his party’s nominee.
Rhoden is a legislative veteran who served more than five years as lieutenant governor under Kristi Noem. When she joined the Trump administration in 2025, he became governor and is fighting to keep the job.
Doeden-Rhoden will be an interesting contest. A debate will likely help reveal policy and stylistic differences. Will Doeden pour more millions into the campaign? Can Rhoden compete financially?
Johnson and Hansen were left on the sideline pondering their political futures. It was surely a rough night for two ambitious men.
Johnson has climbed steadily from the Public Utilities Commission to chief of staff to Gov. Dennis Daugaard to Congress, winning four terms. He turns 50 on Sept. 30, and that landmark birthday and his first loss take the shine off his image as the boy wonder of South Dakota politics.
Hansen walked away from a leadership position in Pierre. Will he try to return to the Legislature in 2028? Is there another career path for him?
The biggest political question is their plans during this primary runoff. Will they endorse either candidate? Does it seem likely they might back Rhoden, whom they know and have worked with for years? Or would that only assist Doeden in his claim that he is battling entrenched political powers?
It has been a testy campaign as times. Rhoden said Johnson tried to warn him to stay out the race. But he didn’t want to walk away from the job he inherited.
He was clearly upset with Johnson over a series of hostile TV ads that attacked him. The political action committee behind the commercials was linked to Johnson, and Rhoden pointed out his anger over their use in the primary.
“Somebody who will willfully, intentionally and maliciously lie about another candidate to the people of South Dakota in order to gain political favor has no business running for office,” Rhoden told South Dakota News Watch. “It’s a harsh thing to say, and I never would have dreamed of saying it, but I have to.”
Politicians have put the past behind them before, but Johnson, who joins other Republicans who failed to move up the ladder, also might sit out this showdown and endorse the winner.
“It has been the honor of my lifetime to represent South Dakota in Congress these past eight years,” Johnson said in a statement released Wednesday morning. “While I am disappointed in the outcome, I am committed to helping Republican candidates get elected in November.”
He might well wish he had sought a fifth term in Congress, but like Congressman Randy Feenstra of Iowa, who walked away from a safe seat representing northwest Iowa, the lure of being governor was too much for him to ignore. Feenstra was defeated Tuesday despite a late endorsement from Trump.
We’re not sure what is on the mind of Hansen, who was silent after the election. He also may have regretted his bid to move from the Legislature to the governor’s chair.
The other runoff features Christine Erickson and state Sen. Jamie Smith vying to lead Sioux Falls. Smith is a Sioux Falls native, longtime teacher and coach and a Democrat who was the party’s nominee for governor in 2022, losing in a landslide to Noem. But municipal races are nonpartisan, so there is not an R or a D behind the candidates’ names on the ballot.
It’s interesting that two of the three mayoral candidates who didn’t qualify for the runoff, Greg Jamison and Joe Batcheller, will appear at a press conference today (Thursday, June 4) with Smith. They will “share a message about the future of Sioux Falls,” according to the Smith campaign.
Sure sounds like endorsements are coming. Neither Smith nor Erickson seem to be counting on support from perennial fringe candidate David Zokaites.
Erickson, who served one term in the state House and has been on the Sioux Falls City Council since 2014, is a Republican. A Rapid City native, she is the sister of legendary kicker Adam Vinatieri.
The Ice Man became rich and famous for making clutch kicks. His sister now aims to claim a victory in overtime in a bid to lead South Dakota’s biggest city. Erickson has the backing — and the money — of some wealthy supporters.
So even though it’s officially a nonpartisan race, there are clear political divides in this contest.
The state’s lone U.S. House of Representatives seat comes down to a contest between Attorney General Marty Jackley, trying once more to land a different office after a 2018 loss in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and Democrat Nikki Gronli. Jackley easily turned back primary opponent James Bialota of Piedmont, who didn’t put up a real fight.
Gronli, a rural Dell Rapids resident who served as vice chair of the state Democratic Party and was the director of United States Department in of Agriculture Rural Development in South Dakota from 2022-25, had no primary opponent. Independent Jack Pittman is apparently running as well.
There are other races to watch, including the Senate contest, as Sen. Mike Rounds seeks a third term. He easily turned back challenger Justin McNeal, a Rapid City businessman who didn’t campaign very much.
Rounds will face one or two challengers. The Democrats have nominated Julian Beaudion of Sioux Falls. He’s a former state trooper and a Sioux Falls businessman.
However, some Democrats are urging Beaudion to bow out or seek another contest to clear the field for independent Brian Bengs, a former Air Force officer and Northern State University professor who ran against Sen. John Thune in 2024. They want to stage a head-to-head contest between Rounds and Bengs.
That’s causing a spirited debate online, with Beaudion supporters saying he is the party’s choice and should be supported. Bengs’ backers note that he has raised a lot more money and could wage a truly competitive battle.
A three-way contest would divide the progressive and moderate vote, assuring a Rounds’ victory, they claim.
It will be interesting to see what happens this weekend as South Dakota
Democrats gather in Sioux Falls for their biggest weekend of the year, McGovern Days. The headliner is former President Joe Biden, who will speak Friday night.
But the intrigue behind the scenes might be the real news. The primary election date has passed, but the politics will heat up all summer.
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission
Photo: John Tsitrian, at a noisy victory party for Marty Jackley on election night.
The South Dakota Standard is offered freely and is supported by our readers. We have no political or commercial sponsorship. If you'd like to help us continue our mission to advance independent political and social commentary, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" button that's on the sidebar to your right.
Follow us and comment on X and Bluesky
