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South Dakota state executive official elections, 2026
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← 2024
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| South Dakota state executive official elections |
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| Election details |
| Filing deadline: March 31, 2026 |
| Primary: June 2, 2026 Primary runoff: July 28, 2026 General: November 3, 2026 |
| How to vote |
| Poll times:
7 a.m. to 7 p.m. |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2026 Impact of term limits in 2026 State government trifectas and triplexes |
| Other state executive elections |
Eight state executive offices are up for election in South Dakota in 2026:
Governor
Lieutenant Governor
Attorney General
Secretary of State
Auditor
Commissioner of School and Public Lands
Treasurer
Public Utilities Commission
Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:
- Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
- Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies
In South Dakota, political parties select their state executive candidates at conventions rather than through primaries, with the governor being the only exception. As of September 2025, the dates of the conventions had not yet been announced.
Governor of South Dakota
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Governor of South Dakota
Robert Arnold, Toby Doeden, Jon Hansen, Dusty Johnson, and Terry Gleason are running in the general election for Governor of South Dakota on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Robert Arnold (D) | ||
 | Toby Doeden (R) | |
 | Jon Hansen (R) | |
 | Dusty Johnson (R) | |
| Terry Gleason (Independent) | ||
| ||||
 = 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. | ||||
Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota
Karla Lems is running in the general election for Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Karla Lems (R) | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Attorney General of South Dakota
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Attorney General of South Dakota
Lance Russell is running in the general election for Attorney General of South Dakota on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Lance Russell (R) | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
South Dakota Secretary of State
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for South Dakota Secretary of State
Incumbent Monae Johnson and Terrence Davis are running in the general election for South Dakota Secretary of State on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Monae Johnson (R) | |
| Terrence Davis (D) | ||
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
South Dakota State Auditor
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
South Dakota Commissioner of School and Public Lands
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
South Dakota Treasurer
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
Context of the 2026 elections
Party control in South Dakota
South Dakota Party Control: 1992-2025
No Democratic trifectas • Thirty-two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Voting information
- See also: Voting in South Dakota
Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.
Past elections
2024
The following offices were up for election in 2024:
See also
| South Dakota | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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External links
Footnotes
