South Dakota Governor 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in South Dakota.
Who is favoured in South Dakota Governor?
Run the forecaster to pull current reporting on this race, score it issue by issue, and see who it favours.
What the South Dakota Governor election decides
State government decides most of what touches daily life directly: schools, roads, policing, public health, utilities regulation, and the state's share of healthcare programs. A governor's veto and budget proposal set the boundaries of what a legislature can do.
A governor signs or vetoes state law, proposes the state budget, commands the state's emergency response, and in most states shapes how elections themselves are administered. South Dakota decides this alongside its 1 House seat and a U.S. Senate seat. Governors are judged on results inside the state rather than on national mood alone, which is why governor's races often break differently from federal contests held the same day.
How South Dakota votes
South Dakota is a strongly Republican agricultural state where commodity prices, land use and water infrastructure carry most statewide debates, and general elections are rarely in doubt. That backdrop is the ground any South Dakota campaign fights on, and it is what the Electorate HQ simulation reads first when it weighs a ticket's platform against this contest.
About this race
The 2026 South Dakota gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 2026, to elect the governor of South Dakota. The primary elections were held on June 2, 2026, and since no candidate received over 35% in the Republican primary, a runoff election was held on July 28.
Incumbent Republican Larry Rhoden, who ascended to the office of governor in 2025 after Kristi Noem resigned to become secretary of homeland security, won his first full term in office. Rhoden had previously been serving as lieutenant governor under Noem since the two took office in 2019. Democrats have not won a gubernatorial election in South Dakota since 1974 and have not held the office since Harvey Wollman left office in 1979.
Republican primary
Latest coverage of the South Dakota Governor race
South Dakota voter guideSouth Dakota Governor Election Results 2026: Larry Rhoden WinsUnusually high number of independent candidates seek South Dakota legislative seatsSouth Dakota's governor's race tops $16.5 million in spending‘Losing our voice’: South Dakota general election turnout falls to historic lowSouth Dakota man poured $5.3 million of own money into failed governor campaign, final report showsThe rest of the South Dakota ballot
Every South Dakota House district, the counties inside each one, and an address lookup that resolves your exact districts are on the South Dakota state page.
Other 2026 races in South Dakota
Analysis covering South Dakota
Six states have exactly one representative, and they are not alike
Alaska, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming each elect a single at-large member. The largest is 266 times the smallest.
One seat covers 34 square kilometres. One seat covers 1,713,379.
New York's 12th and Alaska's at-large seat each elect one member of the House. On the ground, one is fifty thousand times the size of the other.