'Rebuilding trust': After Noem banishments, Rhoden takes outreach tour to Indian Country

South Dakota governor, North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong convene with Standing Rock tribal leaders in Fort Yates

(Courtesy of the South Dakota Governor’s Office)

Gov. Larry Rhoden has made his first official trip to Indian Country since taking over for a predecessor who had a tenuous relationship with South Dakota’s tribes.

The governor on Monday visited the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe on his Open for Opportunity Tour. The trek to Fort Yates marked the first stop on the tribe’s north-central South Dakota territory by the state’s governor since 2023. With North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong on hand to meet with tribal leaders as well, it was also the first time in more than a decade both the South Dakota and North Dakota governors were on the Standing Rock Reservation at the same time.

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