Democrats made significant gains nationwide, but South Dakota was one of the few Republican-led states where the GOP mostly held firm. Democrats did make some progress around Sioux Falls.
Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden won about 63.5% of the vote on Tuesday, nearly identical to Donald Trump’s 63.4% share in the state in 2024. Republicans also won the other statewide contests and kept a commanding hold on the legislature, although Democrats gained four seats.
Rhoden defeated Democrat Dan Ahlers, who called himself a “conservative Democrat” and focused his campaign on affordability, rural health care, education and other everyday concerns. That approach did little to close the statewide gap: Ahlers received 36.5% of the vote.
The result differed from those in other strongly Republican states, where the GOP stayed in power but saw its margins narrow. Republican candidates for governor in Idaho and Wyoming won comfortably, though each received a smaller share of the vote than Trump did in 2024. In South Dakota, Rhoden’s share was almost unchanged.
Democratic candidates in Florida and Tennessee also emphasized issues similar to Ahlers’ priorities. Florida’s David Jolly, a former Republican, focused on affordability and health care and brought the GOP’s vote share down to 50%—about six points below its 2024 presidential result. Tennessee’s Democratic gubernatorial candidate used a comparable approach and also cut into the Republican margin.
Republicans largely held their ground in South Dakota’s legislative races. Democrats flipped four seats near Sioux Falls, their first legislative gains in the state since 2008.
The losses were centered around the state’s largest city. Its growing population and less conservative political climate may be giving Democrats more room to compete, said Julia Hellwege, a political scientist at the University of South Dakota. Opposition to large data-center projects also appealed to some local voters, according to a Democratic official in the area.
Republican House Speaker Jon Hansen said his party had focused on issues important to South Dakotans and pointed to what he described as concrete results, rather than promises alone.
Hansen cited legislative property-tax cuts, measures intended to limit utility-cost increases tied to data-center development, restrictions on corporate use of eminent domain and a balanced state budget as factors in the GOP’s performance.
South Dakota’s unemployment rate has hovered near 2% since last September, about half the national rate. Average wages rose roughly 4% during 2025. The state remained among the most affordable in the country, though rent increases outpaced wage growth last year, according to Realtor.com data.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds won easily, taking 60.5% of the vote. The party did see a smaller share in the race for the state’s at-large House seat: Attorney General Marty Jackley won with about 64%, compared with the 72% Republican Dusty Johnson received in 2024.
South Dakota’s relatively limited legislative losses contrasted with results elsewhere. Democrats flipped 21 Republican-held seats in the Texas House, while New Hampshire Republicans appeared likely to fall from the 222 House seats they won in 2024 to 107.
Republicans also lost control of at least one legislative chamber in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.
Republican House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach said GOP lawmakers who lost on Nov. 3 had failed to match their campaign promises with their actions, adding that he did not believe South Dakota’s Republican leadership had made the same mistake.
