Yes.
South Dakota has the longest uninterrupted Republican hold on a governor’s office of any state in the country.
A Democratic governor has not held office in South Dakota in more than 47 years, when Harvey Wollman was the 26th governor of the state after replacing Richard Kneip, who resigned. He was replaced by Republican Bill Janklow in his first eight-year term on Jan. 1, 1979.
Utah has the second-longest run of Republican governors – a Democrat last served in 1985.
South Dakota has had three Democratic governors since the 1950s (five overall): Ralph Herseth (1959-1961), Kneip (1971-78) and Wollman (1978-79).
Only two Democrats have earned more than 45% of the vote since the party last held the state’s highest office. Billy Sutton received 47.6% of the vote against Republican Kristi Noem (51%), and Lars Herseth got 48.2% of the vote against George S. Mickelson (51.8%) for the first of his two terms.
This fact brief responds to conversations such as this one.
Sources
Ballotpedia, Gubernatorial winning streaks
National Governor’s Association, Utah
National Governor’s Association, South Dakota
Ballotpedia, South Dakota 2018 election
KELO-TV, A look back at 40 years of South Dakota governor elections
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