Gov. Larry Rhoden and Marty Jackley claim victory for governor and U.S. House. Other GOP candidates holding strong leads in the race for secretary of state and U.S. Senate.
Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden has been in office almost two years and claimed victory Tuesday along with longtime prosecutor Marty Jackley for U.S. House of Representatives.
Other Republicans led in the other top races: Heather Baxter for secretary of state and Mike Rounds for U.S. Senate.
Rhoden, Jackley and numerous other Republican candidates gathered at the Hyatt Place hotel in downtown Rapid City to dine on steak tips and corn on the cob and watch election results dribble in. A pair of large TV screens connected to the Secretary of State’s website displayed updated vote tallies.
Just after 9 p.m. Mountain time, Jackley took the stage and was announced as South Dakota’s new congressman-elect, having built a 2-to-1 vote lead over Democratic challenger Nikki Gronli.
Jackley thanked his family, campaign staff and supporters and vowed to fight for “what’s near and dear to us in South Dakota — our principles and our values.”
Jackley said he heard voter concerns over affordability issues including high gas and health care prices. He promised to work toward a Farm Bill that helps state farmers. He said he will support families, education and small businesses.
Jackley also said he will battle against the “corruption and fraud” occurring in Washington.
“I won’t forget where I came from,” Jackley said. “I’ll work exceptionally hard to start protecting taxpayer dollars and address our national deficit.”
Here are the results so far in the top races.
Rhoden succeeded former Gov. Kristi Noem in January 2025 when she became Homeland Security secretary. He was among four Republicans vying for governor this year. Rhoden and Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden were the two top vote-getters in the June 2 primary, defeating U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and state House Speaker Jon Hansen. Rhoden then defeated Doeden in a July 28 runoff.
On Tuesday, Rhoden and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen defeated Ahlers and running mate Steven McCleerey.
Baxter, of Rapid City, is a state legislator for District 34 and a member of the South Dakota Freedom Caucus, a far-right, populist group that has pushed for lower taxes, less state spending and election reform. Baxter has called herself a "strong proponent of election integrity and accountability" and has voiced support for improved hand-counting methods.
The Democrat in the race, former state trooper Terrence Davis, was endorsed by Monae Johnson, the sitting secretary of state, after she lost the primary to Baxter at the June Republican convention.
Tamara Lesnar ran as the state's sole Libertarian candidate for statewide office. She formerly ran for state House in 2024 and for U.S. Senate in 2022, where she lost to incumbent Sen. John Thune.
Rounds, who previously served in the state Legislature and as governor, was poised to win another six-year term over his challenger, Independent Brian Bengs, a U.S. Navy and Air Force veteran.
Bengs, who previously ran for the office as a Democrat, raised considerable funding and drew national media attention as he campaigned with other independent Senate hopefuls Dan Osborn of Nebraska and Seth Bodnar of Montana.
South Dakota's only seat in the U.S. House opened this year when Johnson ran for governor.
Gronli was formerly the state's director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. Attorney General Jackley previously served as AG as well as the state's U.S. attorney and will serve a two-year term in Congress.
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Statewide, 78,788 absentee ballots had been received by the secretary of state’s office as of Friday. That's quite a jump from 2022, when 55,377 absentee ballots had been received by the Friday before Election Day.
Julia Hellwege, associate professor of political science at the University of South Dakota, said that the election results fall mostly in line with how polling from News Watch and the Chiesman Center for Democracy indicated the vote would go. Republicans elected to statewide office will mostly have to consider whether they won with a strong enough majority to remain confident in their accountability to voters.
"The question is also what is the mandate, and are Democrats and Independents and moderate Republicans still holding their incumbent partisans and their party nominees accountable," Hellwege said.
Hellwege said that early voting can indicate decisiveness in voters and could demonstrate a more engaged or informed voter base.
"Early voters are more likely to be more confident in their votes. They're more likely to be strong partisans, or at the very least, more civically engaged, more informed. They know what they want to do," Hellwege said. "At the very least, those high numbers tell us that more people were more confident in their vote and were more strongly tied to their candidates, potentially their party, than they were previously."
Emily DeCock contributed to this story produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent nonprofit. Read, subscribe for free and donate at sdnewswatch.org. Contact reporter/Report for America corps member Molly Wetsch: 605-531-7382/molly.wetsch@sdnewswatch.org.
