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Jeff Bathke

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Jeff Bathke
Image of Jeff Bathke
South Dakota House of Representatives District 20
Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

0

Compensation

Base salary

$13,436/year

Per diem

$166/day for legislators who reside more than 50 miles away from the capitol

Elections and appointments
Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of South Dakota, 1995

Graduate

University of South Dakota, 2011

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army Reserve

Personal
Birthplace
Mitchell, S.D.
Religion
Methodist (United)
Profession
Management
Contact

Jeff Bathke (Republican Party) is a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing District 20. He assumed office on January 14, 2025. His current term ends on January 12, 2027.

Bathke (Republican Party) ran for election to the South Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 20. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Bathke completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jeff Bathke was born in Mitchell, South Dakota. He has served in the U.S. Army Reserve since 1989. Bathke earned a bachelor's degree from the University of South Dakota in 1995 and a graduate degree from the University of South Dakota in 2011. His career experience includes working in management and as a Command Sergeant. He has been affiliated with Rotary, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and Moose Club.[1]

Elections

2024

See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20 (2 seats)

Jeff Bathke and Kaley Nolz won election in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Jeff Bathke
Jeff Bathke (R) Candidate Connection
 
53.6
 
6,953
Image of Kaley Nolz
Kaley Nolz (R)
 
46.4
 
6,013

Total votes: 12,966
Candidate Connection = 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.

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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Don Schmidt and John Schmidt advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Incumbent Ben Krohmer and Jeff Bathke advanced from the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20.

The South Dakota Republican Party's District 20 Central Committee chose Kaley Nolz as the party's nominee to replace Ben Krohmer in the general election. Krohmer withdrew from the general election due to family health issues.[2][3]

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bathke in this election.

Pledges

Bathke signed the following pledges.

  • U.S. Term Limits

2022

See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20 (2 seats)

Incumbent Lance Koth and Ben Krohmer won election in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Lance Koth (R)
 
53.5
 
5,721
Image of Ben Krohmer
Ben Krohmer (R) Candidate Connection
 
46.5
 
4,972

Total votes: 10,693
Candidate Connection = 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.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20 (2 seats)

Ben Krohmer and incumbent Lance Koth defeated Jeff Bathke in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 20 on June 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Ben Krohmer
Ben Krohmer Candidate Connection
 
34.9
 
1,882
Lance Koth
 
33.7
 
1,819
Image of Jeff Bathke
Jeff Bathke
 
31.5
 
1,699

Total votes: 5,400
Candidate Connection = 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

Candidate Connection

Jeff Bathke completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bathke's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I have worked for state and local government most of my career, working with several different departments on a common goal. I am currently the Emergency Manager and Planning & Zoning Director for Davison County.

I have served 35 years in the Military, being deployed twice. I am currently a Command Sergeant Major in the Army Reserve.

I have been married for 32 years, have three adult children and four grandchildren.
  • Reduce government regulations. Local government and private businesses are often forced to accept state and federal regulations that just cost unnecessary funding.
  • Increase technical education. South Dakota wants to increase the local population. In order to do so, we need to increase the capacity of technical school education.
  • Affordable housing. What the government considers affordable housing is not affordable for the majority of citizens. Infrastructure costs have increased so high a developer can’t afford to start a new development without government assistance.
Reducing Government regulation, technical education, affordable housing, Corrections.
My Father in Law, who was my High School Teacher and Wrestling Coach. When I was 17 he got married and introduced me to his new daughter. A few years later I married her and we have been together ever since.
Honesty, ability to listen to the constituents, work with others to accomplish the needs of the residents.
Many years of government experience, working for or with many different departments. I have enough knowledge to understand the issues the departments face.
Make a better life for the residents of District 20 and the State of South Dakota.
My first professional job was a substance abuse counselor. I spent 17 years working directly with clients and still have my inactive license.
My favorite book is one I wrote a few years ago about the funny stuff I saw while traveling. However, I never had it published.
Spread too thin. I work full time, travel all over the country for the Army, and own and maintain rental/flip property. I rarely get a day off.
Open door policy. Listen to the message the legislature receives from constituents
Yes, the only way to get legislation passed is to work together to write the best bill possible.
Yes, some things need to be implemented immediately.
A change to the drainage laws allowing for administrative approval if upstream, downstream, and adjacent land owners approve.
Several in the construction and development field.
Agriculture, Appropriations, government operations, health & Human Services, Military, and local government

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2022

Jeff Bathke did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 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.


Jeff Bathke campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024* South Dakota House of Representatives District 20Won general$7,214 $0
2022South Dakota House of Representatives District 20Lost primary$14,154 $0
Grand total$21,368 $0
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in South Dakota

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.













See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 3, 2024
  2. The Dakota Scout, "Mitchell woman grabs spot in uncontested State House race," August 12, 2024
  3. Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Ben Krohmer," October 28, 2024


Leadership
Speaker of the House:Jon Hansen
Majority Leader:Scott Odenbach
Minority Leader:Erin Healy
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