South Dakota US Senate 2026
Election day is November 3, 2026. A statewide contest in South Dakota.
Who is favoured in South Dakota US Senate?
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What the South Dakota US Senate election decides
The Senate confirms federal judges and cabinet officers, ratifies treaties, and can stop legislation the House passes. With a six-year term and a hundred-member chamber, a single seat is a larger share of the institution than any House district, which is why Senate races draw national money into state contests.
Each state sends two senators regardless of population, so this seat carries the same weight as California's or Wyoming's. South Dakota voters fill it alongside all 1 of the state's House seat and the governorship, and a Senate term runs six years, spanning two future Congresses and, in this case, the next presidential election.
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 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 3, 2026, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of South Dakota. Republican incumbent Mike Rounds was re-elected to a third term, defeating independent Air Force officer Brian Bengs.
Primary elections were held on June 2. Rounds received 75.8% of the vote against minimal opposition. Former state trooper Julian Beaudion won the Democratic nomination unopposed, but withdrew from the race on August 4. Bengs, the Democratic nominee in 2022, filed to run as an independent.
Background
Latest coverage of the South Dakota US Senate race
Unusually high number of independent candidates seek South Dakota legislative seatsSouth Dakota 2026 U.S. Senate Race CandidatesChallenger takes aim at incumbent’s campaign finances in South Dakota US Senate raceSouth Dakota voter guideSouth Dakota U.S. Senate Election 2026: Latest PollsThe 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.