Overview
- Gov. Larry Rhoden defeated businessman Toby Doeden in the Republican runoff held Tuesday to become the GOP nominee for governor.
- The runoff was triggered after no June primary candidate reached the 35% threshold required by state law, forcing South Dakota’s first statewide gubernatorial primary runoff.
- Doeden poured about $4 million of his own money into the challenge and ran on a plan to eliminate property taxes, a proposal Rhoden and allied groups called fiscally reckless.
- Only registered Republicans could vote in the contest, roughly 24,500 early GOP ballots were reported before Election Day, and shifts in Minnehaha, Pennington and Lincoln counties shaped the outcome.
- Rhoden will face Democrat Dan Ahlers in November in a state that has not elected a Democratic governor since the 1970s, and the race will hinge on tax and spending debates and the growing role of self-funded candidates.