Before votes are counted, Republicans already have a near-majority in the Legislature
South Dakota’s Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
Before South Dakotans began early voting Friday for the Nov. 5 general election, the Republican Party already had a near-majority in next year’s Legislature.
Seventeen Republicans are running unopposed for the 35-member Senate, which has one winner in each district.
Republicans are guaranteed another 35 seats in the 70-member House, which has two winners in each district. The guaranteed Republican seats are in districts where two candidates are running and both are Republicans, and in districts where three candidates are running and two are Republicans.
Senate: 31 Republicans, four Democrats.
House: 63 Republicans, seven Democrats.
There’s one unopposed Democrat running for Senate, and the Democratic Party is guaranteed at least two seats in the House.
All 105 seats in the Legislature are up for grabs in the election, and 43% of the them are already decided — an increase from 42% headed into the 2022 election.
Seventeen of the 45 unchallenged legislative candidates on the November ballot also went unchallenged in their party’s June primary election. There were 44 Republican legislative primary races in June and one Democratic primary race.
Sixty-one candidates running for a state legislative seat in Nov. 5 election are women, while 98 are men.
Voters in South Dakota have plenty of other choices to make beyond legislative races. Ballots are lengthy, with seven statewide ballot questions, a U.S. House race and a Public Utilities Commission race, plus local races.
The 45 unchallenged candidates for the Legislature in the Nov. 5 election:
District 1 Senate (Brown, Day, Marshall, Roberts counties): Michael Rohl, Republican
District 2 Senate (Minnehaha County): Steve Kolbeck, Republican
District 2 House (Minnehaha County): David Kull and John Sjaarda, Republican
District 3 Senate (Brown County): Carl Perry, Republican
District 4 Senate (Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Roberts counties): Stephanie Sauder, Republican
District 4 House (Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin, Roberts counties): Kent Rose and Dylan Jordan, Republican
District 6 Senate (Lincoln County): Ernie Otten, Republican
District 7 Senate (Brookings County): Tim Reed, Republican
District 8 Senate (Brookings, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner counties): Casey Crabtree, Republican
District 9 Senate (Minnehaha County): Joy Hohn, Republican
District 10 Senate (Minnehaha County): Liz Larson, Democrat
District 13 House (Lincoln and Minnehaha counties): Tony Venhuizen and John Hughes, Republican
District 16 Senate (Lincoln, Turner, Union counties): Kevin Jensen, Republican
District 17 Senate (Clay and Union counties): Sydney Davis, Republican
District 19 House (Bon Homme, Hanson, Hutchinson, McCook, Turner counties): Drew Peterson and Jessica Bahmuller, Republican
District 20 Senate (Davison, Jerauld, Miner, Sanborn counties): Paul Miskimins, Republican
District 20 House (Davison, Jerauld, Miner, Sanborn counties): Jeff Bathke and Kaley Nolz, Republican
District 21 House (Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory, Tripp counties): Jim Halverson and Marty Overweg, Republican
District 22 House (Beadle, Clark, Spink counties): Kevin Van Diepen and Lana Greenfield, Republican
District 23 Senate (Brown, Campbell, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, McPherson, Potter, Walworth counties): Mark Lapka, Republican
District 23 House (Brown, Campbell, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, McPherson, Potter, Walworth counties): Scott Moore and Spencer Gosch, Republican
District 24 Senate (Haakon, Hughes, Hyde, Stanley, Sully counties): Jeff Mehlhaff, Republican
District 24 House (Haakon, Hughes, Hyde, Stanley, Sully counties): Will Mortenson and Mike Weisgram, Republican
District 25 House (Minnehaha and Moody counties): Les Heinemann and Jon Hansen, Republican
District 28B House (Butte, Harding, Perkins counties): Travis Ismay, Republican
District 29 Senate (Meade County): John Carley, Republican
District 29 House (Meade County): Kathy Rice and Terri Jorgenson, Republican
District 31 Senate (Lawrence County): Randy Deibert, Republican
District 33 Senate (Meade and Pennington counties): Curt Voight, Republican
District 33 House (Meade and Pennington counties): Curt Massie and Phil Jensen, Republican
District 34 House (Pennington County): Mike Derby and Heather Baxter, Republican
District 35 Senate (Pennington County): Greg Blanc, Republican
The 10 House districts where one party has two of the three candidates in a two-winner race, thereby guaranteeing at least one seat for that party:
District 3 House (Brown County): Democrat Erin Rudner and Republicans Brandei Schaefbauer and Al Novstrup
District 6 House (Lincoln County): Democrat Garret Campbell and Republicans Herman Otten and Aaron Aylward
District 8 House (Brookings, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner counties): Libertarian Greg Zimmerman and Republicans Rim Reisch and Tim Walburg
District 9 House (Minnehaha County): Democrat Beverly Froslie Johnson and Republicans Bethany Soye and Tesa Schwans
District 10 House (Minnehaha County): Republican Bobbi Andera and Democrats Kameron Nelson and Erin Healy
District 16 House (Lincoln, Turner, Union counties): Democrat Matthew Carl Ness and Republicans Karla Lems and Richard Vasgaard
District 17 House (Clay and Union counties): Democrat Ray Ring and Republicans Bill Shorma and Chris Kassin
District 27 House (Bennett, Jackson, Pennington, Oglala Lakota counties): Republican Liz May and Democrats Peri Pourier and Elsie Meeks
District 30 House (Custer, Fall River, Pennington counties): Democrat Susan Scheirbeck and Republicans Trish Ladner and Tim Goodwin
District 32 House (Pennington County): Democrat Nicole Uhre-Balk and Republicans Steve Duffy and Brook Kaufman
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