Notable South Dakota races, 2016
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| Notable South Dakota Races | |
|---|---|
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| Primary | June 7, 2016 |
| General | November 8, 2016 |
| 2016 Notable Races | |
|---|---|
| Choose a state below: | |
Ballotpedia identified five notable South Dakota state legislative races in 2016.
Overview
- Main articles: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2016 and South Dakota State Senate elections, 2016
State legislature remained Republican
Heading into the general election, South Dakota was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas. Republicans held a two-thirds supermajority in the state Senate and in the state House. They remained in control after November 2016, as Democrats would have had to gain 24 seats to gain a majority in the state House and 10 seats to gain a majority in the state Senate.
| Partisan breakdown of the South Dakota Legislature | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Republicans | Democrats | |
| South Dakota House | 58 seats | 12 seats | |
| South Dakota Senate | 27 seats | 8 seats | |
What makes a race notable?
Ballotpedia uses these criteria to identify notable races:
- Incumbents facing more conservative or liberal challengers
- Rematches between candidates
- Races that receive considerable media attention
- Races that could significantly affect the state's partisan balance
- Competitive races involving party leaders
- Open, competitive races with Republican and Democratic primaries
- Races that capture money and attention from outside groups, including key endorsements
Know of an interesting race we should include here? Email us!
Notable primary elections
State Senate District 9
- District 9 featured a candidate rematch.
Incumbent state Sen. Deb Peters (R) ran for re-election. She defeated former state Rep. Lora Hubbel (R) in the Republican primary contest. Holly Boltjes (D) was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Peters and John Koch (D) faced off in the November general election.
Peters defeated Hubbel by a margin of 52 percent to 47 percent.[1]
Education funding and transgender bathroom access were major issues in the state. Peters supported a series of education bills that would increase the state's sales tax by a half-cent to increase public school teacher pay and would overhaul the state's education funding model. She also voted against House Bill 1008, which would have banned transgender students from using bathrooms that do not match the biological sex listed on their birth certificate.[1]
State Senate District 30
- The Republican incumbent faced a primary challenger over education funding.
Incumbent state Sen. Bruce Rampelberg (R) ran for re-election. He was defeated by state Rep. Lance Russell in the Republican primary contest. Karla R. LaRive (D) was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Russell and LaRive faced off in the November general election.
Education funding and transgender bathroom access were major issues in the state. Rampelbring supported a bill that would increase the state's sales tax by a half-cent to increase public school teacher pay while Russell opposed it. Both candidates supported the bill that would bar transgender bathroom access.[1]
State Senate District 33
- The Republican incumbent faced a primary challenger over education funding.
Incumbent state Sen. Phil Jensen (R) ran for re-election. He defeated state Rep. Jacqueline Sly (R) in the Republican primary contest. Haven Stuck (D) was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Jensen and Stuck faced off in the November general election.
Education funding was a major issue in the campaign. Jensen opposed a series of education bills that would increase the state's sales tax by a half-cent to increase public school teacher pay and would overhaul the state's education funding model. Sly supported the bills. Both candidates supported the bill that would bar transgender bathroom access.[1]
State House District 16
- District 16 featured a candidate rematch.
District 16 has two incumbents. Incumbent state Rep. James Bolin (R) was ineligible to run due to term limits, while state Rep. David Anderson (R) ran re-election. Anderson faced his 2014 primary opponent Kevin Jensen (R) and state Sen. William Shorma (R) in the Republican primary contest. Anderson and Jensen faced Ted Curry (D) and Ann Tornberg (D) in the general election.
In 2014, Bolin and Anderson defeated Jensen in the Republican primary contest. Bolin received 42 percent of the vote, Anderson received 33 percent, and Jensen received 25 percent. Bolin and Anderson moved on to the general election, where they were unopposed.
State House District 30
- Five Republicans competed for the top two spots on the November ballot.
Incumbent state Reps. Lance Russell (R) and Mike Verchio (R) were ineligible for re-election due to term limits. Five Republicans competed to move on to the November ballot: Tim Goodwin (R), Travis Lasseter (R), Richard Mounce (R), Marilyn Oakes (R), and Julie Frye-Mueller (R).
Goodwin and Frye-Mueller faced Sandy Arseneault (D) and Kristine Winter (D) on the November ballot.
Freshman legislators
The following is a list of challengers who won election on November 8.
- Al Novstrup (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 3
- Bob Glanzer (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 22
- Charles Turbiville (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 31
- Chris Karr (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 11
- Craig Kennedy (Democratic), .South Dakota State Senate, District 18
- Craig Tieszen (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 34
- Dan Ahlers (Democratic), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 25
- David Johnson (South Dakota) (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 33
- Drew Dennert (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 3
- Greg Jamison (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 12
- Hugh Bartels (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 5
- Jack Kolbeck (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 13
- James Bolin (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 16
- Jamie Smith (South Dakota) (Democratic), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 15
- Jason Kettwig (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 4
- Jeff Partridge (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 34
- Jim Stalzer (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 11
- John Lake (South Dakota) (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 23
- John Mills (South Dakota) (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 4
- John Wiik (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 4
- Jordan Youngberg (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 8
- Joshua Klumb (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 20
- Julie Frye-Mueller (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 30
- Justin Cronin (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 23
- Kevin Jensen (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 16
- Kevin Killer (Democratic), .South Dakota State Senate, District 27
- Kris Langer (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 25
- Lance Carson (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 20
- Lance Russell (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 30
- Larry Rhoden (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 29
- Michael Clark (South Dakota) (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 9
- Nancy York (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 5
- Neal Tapio (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 5
- Oren Lesmeister (Democratic), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 28A
- Reynold Nesiba (Democratic), .South Dakota State Senate, District 15
- Roger Chase (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 22
- Ryan Maher (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 28
- Sean McPherson (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 32
- Spencer Gosch (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 23
- Stace Nelson (Republican), .South Dakota State Senate, District 19
- Steve Livermont (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 27
- Sue Peterson (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 13
- Susan Wismer (Democratic), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 1
- Taffy Howard (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 33
- Tim Goodwin (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 30
- Tim Reed (South Dakota) (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 7
- Tom Pischke (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 25
Defeated incumbents
The following is a list of incumbents who were defeated on November 8.
- Roger Hunt (South Dakota) (Republican), .South Dakota House of Representatives, District 25
- Scott Parsley (Democratic), .South Dakota State Senate, District 8
See also
- South Dakota House of Representatives
- South Dakota State Legislature
- State legislative elections, 2016
External links
Footnotes
