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.
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.
Uncontested races and guaranteed seats
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