James Wangsness
James Wangsness (Republican Party) (also known as JD) was a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing District 23. He assumed office on January 10, 2023. He left office on January 14, 2025.
Wangsness (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the South Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 23. He lost in the Republican primary on June 4, 2024.
Biography
James Wangsness earned a degree in farm management and economics from South Dakota State University.[1] Wangsness' career experience includes co-owning and co-operating Diamond W Land and Cattle Company and working as a farmer/rancher.[1][2]
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Wangsness was assigned to the following committees:
- House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee
- House Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee
- House State Affairs Committee
Elections
2024
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (2 seats)
Spencer Gosch and incumbent Scott Moore won election in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Spencer Gosch (R) | 51.8 | 7,973 |
| ✔ |  | Scott Moore (R) | 48.2 | 7,420 |
| Total votes: 15,393 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (2 seats)
Incumbent Scott Moore and Spencer Gosch defeated incumbent James Wangsness in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Moore | 41.8 | 2,889 |
| ✔ | | Spencer Gosch | 37.5 | 2,589 |
 | James Wangsness | 20.7 | 1,427 | |
| Total votes: 6,905 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wangsness in this election.
2022
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (2 seats)
Scott Moore and James Wangsness won election in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Moore (R) | 58.7 | 6,965 |
| ✔ | | James Wangsness (R) | 41.3 | 4,893 |
| Total votes: 11,858 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (2 seats)
Scott Moore and James Wangsness defeated Gregory Brooks and Brandon Black in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Scott Moore | 41.7 | 3,421 |
| ✔ | | James Wangsness | 35.0 | 2,867 |
| Gregory Brooks | 15.2 | 1,248 | ||
| Brandon Black | 8.1 | 660 | ||
| Total votes: 8,196 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2020
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (2 seats)
Incumbent Spencer Gosch and Charles Hoffman won election in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Spencer Gosch (R) | 55.1 | 8,325 |
| ✔ |  | Charles Hoffman (R) | 44.9 | 6,791 |
| Total votes: 15,116 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 (2 seats)
Incumbent Spencer Gosch and Charles Hoffman defeated incumbent James Wangsness and Kevin Watts in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Spencer Gosch | 40.7 | 3,107 |
| ✔ | | Charles Hoffman | 35.4 | 2,709 |
| James Wangsness | 14.0 | 1,072 | |
| Kevin Watts | 9.9 | 755 | ||
| Total votes: 7,643 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James Wangsness did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
James Wangsness did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
James Wangsness did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of South Dakota scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
In 2024, the South Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 9 to March 26.
- Legislators are scored on their stances related to the Rapid City business community.
- Legislators are scored on their votes related to business.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
- Legislators are scored on bills related to reproductive health issues.
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2023, the South Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 10 to March 27.
|
2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2020, the South Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 14 to March 30.
|
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2019, the South Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 8 through March 29.
|
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate South Dakota House of Representatives District 23 |
Personal |
Footnotes
