Gov. Larry Rhoden emerged as the Republican nominee for governor Tuesday following a first-in-state history runoff election.

“Man, what a night and what a crowd,” Rhoden told his supporters at the Canopy Hotel in downtown Sioux Falls at around 9:15 p.m.

Rhoden will face former Democratic lawmaker Dan Ahlers of Dell Rapids in the November election after toppling Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden by what’s expected to be a two-digit margin.

Minutes after the final polls in western South Dakota closed Tuesday evening after the state’s first-ever runoff election in a statewide primary, the Union Center rancher had more than 71 percent of the ballots counted, while his opponent, Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden, had received 29 percent.

Read more

A Dell Rapids state senator who has been charged with committing election fraud bowed to pressure Tuesday by withdrawing from the race.

Sen. Tom Pischke notified the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office that he was no longer a candidate for re-election. Pischke, a Republican, was running for a third term in the District 25 Senate seat. The 44-year-old had previously served three terms in the House.

Read more

South Dakota Republicans head to the polls today for the state’s first-ever gubernatorial primary runoff, with Gov. Larry Rhoden facing Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden.

The historic contest follows a crowded June 2 primary in which no candidate reached the 35 percent threshold required to win the Republican nomination outright. Doeden finished first with about 31 percent of the vote, followed by Rhoden with roughly 25 percent, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson with 23 percent and state House Speaker Jon Hansen with 21 percent.

The winner will advance to the Nov. 3 general election ballot to face Democratic nominee Dan Ahlers.

Here is a look at how the race developed, from the early political groundwork through the endorsements, party registration shifts and campaign maneuvering that shaped the runoff.

Read more

Correction: Sen. Casey Crabtree’s appointment to the South Dakota Legislature was in 2020, incorrectly reported in an earlier version of this article. The Dakota Scout strives for fairness and accuracy and deeply regrets the error.

Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden is weighing four Republicans as potential running mates ahead of next week’s GOP gubernatorial runoff.

Doeden has not publicly named finalists in his search for a lieutenant governor candidate, but according to sources of The Dakota Scout, the political newcomer who made history as the top vote-getter in the June 2 primary has narrowed his shortlist to a former House speaker, a former congressional candidate, a veteran state government operative and a moderate leader in the South Dakota Legislature.

The revelation comes as Doeden, a first-time candidate for statewide office, enters the final days of a primary campaign that went from a four-candidate race to a head-to-head bout with second-place finisher Gov. Larry Rhoden when neither secured 35 percent of the vote.

And with the governor’s running mate long known — Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen — Doeden has faced growing pressure to reveal who he might choose to be a heartbeat away from the governor’s office.

Keep scrolling for a look at Doeden’s top contenders.

Read more

Sioux Falls Mayor Christine Erickson, fresh from her own runoff election battle, is aiding longtime ally Larry Rhoden with his own fight.

Erickson, who is only a week into her role as mayor of South Dakota’s largest city, waded into the state’s top election after publicly endorsing Rhoden at his campaign headquarters in Sioux Falls on Thursday.

“The governor understands strong communities are built on safe neighborhoods, responsible government and creating opportunities for families to succeed,” Erickson said. “I look forward to partnering with Gov. Larry Rhoden to move Sioux Falls forward, making it safer and more affordable.”

Read more

Toby Doeden is denying he’s ever voted for Barack Obama after Gov. Larry Rhoden accused the Aberdeen businessman of supporting the Democratic president before becoming a Republican.

The attack from Rhoden’s campaign came after Doeden allies unearthed audio of the Union Center rancher and longtime legislator being accused of drinking while presiding over the South Dakota Senate in 2020.

Both men dispute claims made in the sparring soundbites released days before South Dakota’s historic GOP gubernatorial runoff.

Read more

The South Dakota Republican Party saw a wave of new voter registrations before the July 13 registration deadline ahead of this month’s runoff to decide the GOP nominee for governor.

The new registrations pushed the party’s numbers to a historic mark that hadn’t been reached in more than half a century. The wave of new voters started building prior to the June 2 primary election, but they accelerated after no candidate in the four-person race for governor reached 35 percent, triggering a runoff July 28 between Gov. Larry Rhoden and Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden.

Read more

Lance Russell spent eight years proving to South Dakota Republican delegates they made the wrong choice.

This time, they agreed.

The former lawmaker and longtime West River prosecutor’s decisive victory Saturday for the Republican nomination for attorney general at the South Dakota GOP Convention in Rapid City was more than a political comeback. It was the clearest sign yet that the center of gravity inside South Dakota’s dominant political party has shifted toward a more populist, grassroots wing that increasingly prizes ideological consistency over institutional approval.

Read more

Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken endorsed Gov. Larry Rhoden for governor Monday, throwing his political weight behind Rhoden three weeks before Republicans head to the polls to decide their nominee for governor.

Rhoden is locked in a runoff with Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden, who topped a four-man field with 31 percent of the vote in the June 2 primary.

TenHaken threw shade at Doeden, saying Rhoden had good morals, character and ethics.

Read more

• The Declaration’s truths still reverberate across U.S., around the world

• Founders’ foresight fosters future freedom

• Test your 1776 knowledge about the Founding in our semiquincentennial quiz

• The full online edition of the special section

CORRECTION: The Minnehaha County GOP executive board did mot unanimously support a call for Pischke’s resignation from the Senate, which wasn’t correctly reported in a previous version of this story. The Dakota Scout strives for fairness and accuracy deeply regrets the error.

A Dell Rapids lawmaker embroiled in an election fraud scandal is facing mounting pressure to resign Legislative seat and his Republican Party duties.

Some members of the Minnehaha County GOP Executive Committee are calling on Sen. Tom Pischke (R-District 25) to step down from office, end his bid for reelection and relinquish his duties within the Republican Party.

Read more

South Dakota is getting another chief elections officer.

Secretary of State Monae Johnson failed to win the Republican nomination for a second term during the South Dakota Republican Party Convention Saturday in Rapid City, where GOP delegates instead favored another Pierre outsider to oversee the state’s elections for the next four years.

“When this office runs well, you don’t notice it. When it doesn’t, you feel it everywhere,” Rep. Heather Baxter told a capacity crowd of delegates and attendees at The Monument events center, where she received nearly 60 percent of votes cast by more than 700 party delegates.

Read more

CORRECTION: Pourier is running for the state Senate as an independent. That was incorrectly reported in an earlier version of this story. The Dakota Scout regrets the error.

RAPID CITY — A former Democratic leader in the South Dakota Legislature came within eight votes Saturday of capturing the Republican nomination for one of the state’s top utility regulatory offices.

Riding populist and anti-establishment sentiment among delegates at the South Dakota Republican Party convention, state Rep. Peri Pourier narrowly fell short in her bid for the Republican nomination for the Public Utilities Commission.

Read more

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, Jeff Monroe was listed as a Republican candidate for South Dakota treasurer. He dropped out of the race months ago. The Dakota Scout strives for accuracy and regrets the error.

South Dakotans will soon have a clear picture of all the candidates running for the state’s top governmental positions in 2026.

The South Dakota GOP kicked off its biennial state convention Thursday in Rapid City, where party delegates will select nominees for state constitutional offices up for grabs in the November election.

The three day gathering of Republicans comes after the South Dakota Democratic Party announced its picks for every position except attorney general after the party’s June 6 convention, while the state’s Libertarian party put forward a single candidate for secretary of state on May 2.

Read more

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Pischke as party treasurer. The Dakota Scout strives for fairness and accuracy and deeply regrets the error.

A South Dakota state senator who faces felony election fraud charges is stepping away from his official Republican Party duties, the state GOP announced Tuesday.

Sen. Tom Pischke faces two felony counts of offering a false or forged instrument for filing. He turned himself in to the Minnehaha County Jail Tuesday where he was booked and then released on a personal recognizance bond.

Besides representing District 25 in the state Senate, the Dell Rapids Republican also serves as a Minnehaha County state committeeman and as the GOP’s Region 1 director.

Read more

A South Dakota lawmaker is accused of committing election fraud earlier this spring.

State Sen. Tom Pischke has been arrested on two felony charges following a monthslong investigation into a series of candidate filings suspected by election officials in Minnehaha County to be bogus. According to the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office, the Dell Rapids legislator voluntarily turned himself in to the Minnehaha County Jail on Tuesday on two counts of offering a false or forged instrument for filing. He was booked and subsequently released on a personal recognizance bond.

Pischke, 44, a veteran legislator seeking his third term in the state Senate, declined to comment, directing questions to his legal representation.

Read more

CLARIFICATION: The headline in an earlier version of this article did not clearly state that Congressman Johnson left the door open for a potential endorsement ahead of the runoff. The Dakota Scout strives for fairness and accuracy.

South Dakota’s lone Congressman Dusty Johnson isn’t likely to endorse either of the two remaining candidates in the state’s GOP primary for governor.

But the third-place finisher in the four-way Republican June 2 contest that advanced Gov. Larry Rhoden and Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden to a head-to-head runoff election next month told The Dakota Scout this week that he will support whichever Republican emerges as the party’s nominee on the November ballot.

Read more

Gov. Larry Rhoden will not participate in a one-on-one debate against Republican gubernatorial runoff opponent Toby Doeden before South Dakota voters choose their party’s nominee later this month.

The Rhoden for South Dakota campaign made the announcement Friday afternoon amid growing pressure from South Dakota news outlets and the Aberdeen businessman’s campaign to participate in additional public forums ahead of next month’s runoff election, which will determine the Republican nominee for governor.

Read more

Left-wing politicos are hurling spoiler accusations in South Dakota. But this time, it’s backers of the independent calling for the Democratic candidate’s departure from the U.S. Senate race.

A second run for federal office by a former Democrat-turned-independent with statewide name recognition and a growing campaign war chest has some progressive activists questioning whether Democrats are backing the strongest challenger to incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Rounds.

The debate has intensified in recent weeks as independent candidate Brian Bengs continues to outraise Democratic nominee Julian Beaudion. Public polling also suggests the former Democratic Senate candidate may be better positioned to compete against Rounds in November.

Read more

Recently reelected District 28B Rep. Travis Ismay of Newell is facing an arrest warrant for alleged intentional damage to a highway — which is a felony.

According to a Butte County Grand Jury indictment, Ismay violated South Dakota Law 31-32-1, which makes it illegal to “intentionally dig up, remove, displace, break, or otherwise injure or destroy any public highway or bridge, or any private way laid out by authority of law.”

The Class 6 felony includes up to a two-year prison term and/or a fine of up to $4,000.

Court documents indicate the arrest warrant was issued Tuesday, but it was not immediately clear whether Ismay had been arrested.

So far, Ismay has declined comment.

Ismay won the District 28B house seat June 2 with 55 percent of the vote. He beat Larry Schmoltz in the race.

Content courtesy of The Rapid City Post.

Correction: A previous version of this article used the incorrect first name of former South Dakota Attorney General Mark Barnett. The Dakota Scout strives for accuracy and fitness and deeply regrets the error.

Jon Hansen’s defeat in the GOP gubernatorial primary could shake up the race for another corner office in South Dakota’s capital city.

That’s because the Dell Rapids legislator’s fourth-place finish in last week’s high-profile intra-Republican bout for the party’s nomination for governor left open the possibility of a run for attorney general.

Read more