United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2016

2016 U.S. Senate Election in South Dakota

General Election Date November 8, 2016

Primary Date June 7, 2016

November 8 Election Winner: John Thune

Incumbent prior to election: John Thune

Race Ratings Cook Political Report: Solid R Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe R Rothenberg & Gonzales: Safe R

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2016 U.S. House Elections

Voters in South Dakota elected one member to the U.S. Senate in the election on November 8, 2016.

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated South Dakota's U.S. Senate race as safely Republican. Incumbent John Thune (R) defeated Jay Williams (D) in the general election on November 8, 2016. No candidate faced a primary opponent in June.

Candidate Filing Deadline	Primary Election	General Election
March 29, 2016	June 7, 2016	November 8, 2016

Primary: A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. South Dakota law allows parties to choose whether to let unaffiliated voters vote in their elections. For more information on recognized political parties in South Dakota and their primary policies, see here.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Incumbent: The election filled the Class 3 Senate seat held by John Thune (R). He was first elected in 2004.

Election results

General election

U.S. Senate, South Dakota General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Thune Incumbent	71.8%	265,516
	Democratic	Jay Williams	28.2%	104,140
Total Votes				369,656
Source: South Dakota Secretary of State

Candidates

General election candidates:

John Thunea
Jay Williams

Primary candidates:

Democratic

Jay Williams a

Republican

John Thune - Incumbent a

Disqualified:

Kurt Evans (Constitution Party)

Election history

2014

On November 4, 2014, Mike Rounds was elected to the United States Senate.

U.S. Senate, South Dakota General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mike Rounds	50.4%	140,741
	Democratic	Rick Weiland	29.5%	82,456
	Independent	Larry Pressler	17.1%	47,741
	Independent	Gordon Howie	3%	8,474
Total Votes				279,412
Source: South Dakota Secretary of State

2010

On November 2, 2010, Thune won re-election to the United States Senate. He ran unopposed in the general election.

U.S. Senate, South Dakota General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	John Thune Incumbent	100%	227,947
Total Votes				227,947

Important dates and deadlines

See also: South Dakota elections, 2016

The calendar below lists important dates for political candidates in South Dakota in 2016.

Dates and requirements for candidates in 2016
Deadline	Event type	Event description
January 1, 2016	Ballot access	Candidate petition circulation period begins
March 29, 2016	Ballot access	Primary candidate filing deadline
April 26, 2016	Ballot access	Independent candidate filing deadline
May 27, 2016	Campaign finance	Pre-primary campaign finance report due
June 7, 2016	Election date	Primary election
August 12, 2016	Campaign finance	Post-primary campaign finance report due for candidates who will not be on the ballot in the general election
October 28, 2016	Campaign finance	Pre-general campaign finance report due
November 8, 2016	Election date	General election
February 6, 2017	Campaign finance	2016 year-end campaign finance report due
Source: South Dakota Secretary of State, "2016 Candidate Calendar," accessed August 7, 2015

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in South Dakota, 2016
• United States Senate elections, 2016
• John Thune

Footnotes

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For information about public policy issues in the 2016 elections, see: Public policy in the 2016 elections!

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South Dakota's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Mike Rounds (R)

John Thune (R)

Representatives

Dusty Johnson (R)

Republican Party (3)