{"id":20653,"date":"2026-07-29T06:17:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:17:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20653"},"modified":"2026-07-29T06:17:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:17:52","slug":"south-dakota-gov-larry-rhoden-fends-off-gop-challenger-in-primary-runoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=20653","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden fends off GOP challenger in primary runoff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-12f6f3\" class=\"body-graf\">South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden has won his Republican primary, NBC News projects, after he was forced into a runoff in his bid for a full term in office.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0c3766\" class=\"body-graf\">He defeated businessman and political newcomer Toby Doeden in a one-on-one matchup Tuesday after no candidate won 35% of the vote in the initial June primary. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c98ae4\" class=\"body-graf\">Rhoden will face off in the November general election against Democrat Dan Ahlers, a former state senator, in the solidly red state. South Dakota has not had a Democratic governor since the 1970s, and the state\u2019s two U.S. senators and lone House member are all Republicans. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-054e75\" class=\"body-graf\">Rhoden previously served as lieutenant governor and was elevated to the top job in the state after President Donald Trump selected then-Gov. Kristi Noem to serve as homeland security secretary. (She was fired earlier this year.) Now, Rhoden aims to secure his first full term as governor. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__FvnTh styles_medium__MEKii\" id=\"anchor-bc2992\"><picture class=\"styles_image__i32F7\" data-testid=\"picture\" data-flavor=\"fit\" data-original-height=\"1667\" data-original-width=\"2500\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260723-toby-doeden-south-dakota-governer-bf-1358-f18bde.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260723-toby-doeden-south-dakota-governer-bf-1358-f18bde.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260723-toby-doeden-south-dakota-governer-bf-1358-f18bde.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260723-toby-doeden-south-dakota-governer-bf-1358-f18bde.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260723-toby-doeden-south-dakota-governer-bf-1358-f18bde.jpg\" alt=\"Gubernatorial candidate Toby Doeden attends a Sioux Falls mayoral public debate at Carnegie Hall in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.\" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__TCewG\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Businessman Toby Doeden emerged from the initial June gubernatorial primary with the most support. <\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Samantha Laurey \/ Argus Leader \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p id=\"anchor-f8d564\" class=\"body-graf\">Doeden had won about 31% of the vote in the June primary, while Rhoden took about 25%. Rep. Dusty Johnson and state House speaker Jon Hansen also sought the GOP nomination for governor, but neither received enough support to advance to the runoff. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0d3fec\" class=\"body-graf\">Rhoden and Doeden both positioned themselves as strong allies of Trump, who did not make an endorsement in the primary. Rhoden <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LarryRhodenSD\/status\/2081182622269538494\" target=\"_blank\">framed himself<\/a> as a candidate with \u201cthe proven track record of uniting Republicans from all factions,\u201d while Doeden <a href=\"https:\/\/tobydoeden.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">argued<\/a> that the state \u201cneeds bold conservative leadership, not career politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1b02fa\" class=\"body-graf\">Rhoden campaigned on cutting property taxes and crime, while touting the state\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/ted\/2026\/south-dakota-had-the-lowest-jobless-rate-in-june-2026.htm\" target=\"_blank\">lowest unemployment rate<\/a> in the country. Doeden ran on reducing property taxes, as well as deporting migrants, supporting rural communities and opposing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the state. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6fdafc\" class=\"endmark body-graf\"> Doeden, poured his own money into his campaign, outspent Rhoden on the airwaves in the runoff. Rhoden also <a href=\"https:\/\/platform.adimpact.com\/viewer\/420767ab-6024-4fea-ac16-5a5272e3760a\" target=\"_blank\">faced attack ads<\/a> calling him a \u201ccareer politician\u201d from a super PAC tied to the conservative Club for Growth, although the group has not publicly endorsed in the race. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden has won his Republican primary, NBC News projects, after he was forced into a runoff in his bid for a full term in office. He defeated businessman and political newcomer Toby Doeden in a one-on-one matchup Tuesday after no candidate won 35% of the vote in the initial June primary&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260723-larry-rhoden-south-dakota-governer-bf-1356-6e47c4.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}