2018 United States House of Representatives election in South Dakota

2018 United States House of Representatives election in South Dakota, At-large district

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Nominee Dusty Johnson Tim Bjorkman Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 202,446 120,816 Percentage 60.35% 36.01%

County results Precinct results Johnson:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Bjorkman:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Tie:     40–50%

U.S. Representative before election Kristi Noem Republican Elected U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson Republican

The 2018 United States House of Representatives election in South Dakota was held on November 6, to elect the U.S. representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with other statewide, legislative, and local elections.

Incumbent Republican U.S. Representative Kristi Noem did not run for a fifth term and instead ran successfully for Governor of South Dakota. ^[1] This is the first open seat election since 2004 and the first time a male candidate was elected since 2002. This was the last U.S. House election in South Dakota until 2024 that a Democrat appeared on the November ballot.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Dusty Johnson, former chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission and former chief of staff to Governor Dennis Daugaard ^[2]
• Shantel Krebs, Secretary of State of South Dakota ^[2]
• Neal Tapio, state senator, businessman and former Trump campaign director for South Dakota. ^[3]

Declined

• Eric Terrell ^{[4] [5]}
• Kristi Noem, incumbent U.S. Representative (running for governor) ^[1]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Dusty Johnson	Shantel Krebs	Neal Tapio	Undecided
Mason-Dixon [6]	May 21–23, 2018	625	± 4.5%	41%	23%	13%	23%

Primary results

Results by county:

  Johnson

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%

  Krebs

•   30–40%
•   40–50%

  Tapio

•   30–40%
•   40–50%

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dusty Johnson	47,032	46.8
	Republican	Shantel Krebs	29,442	29.3
	Republican	Neal Tapio	23,980	24.0
Total votes			100,454	100

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Tim Bjorkman, former circuit court judge ^[7]

Failed to file

• Chris Martian, former IT professional ^[8]

Declined

• Shawn Bordeaux, state representative ^[9]
• Troy Heinert, state senator ^[9]
• J. R. LaPlante, former South Dakota Secretary of Tribal Relations and State House candidate in 2016 ^[9]
• Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, former U.S. Representative ^{[10] [11]}
• Mike Huether, Mayor of Sioux Falls (switched to Independent) ^[12]
• Brendan Johnson, former United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota ^[10]
• Billie Sutton, Minority Leader of the South Dakota Senate (running for governor) ^{[13] [14]}

Libertarian nomination

Candidates

Declared

• George Hendrickson, former police officer ^{[15] [16]}

Independents

Candidates

Declined

• Mike Huether, Mayor of Sioux Falls ^{[12] [17] [18]}

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [19]	Solid R	June 1, 2018
The Rothenberg Political Report [20]	Solid R	June 1, 2018
Sabato's Crystal Ball [21]	Safe R	June 6, 2018

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Dusty Johnson (R)	Tim Bjorkman (D)	Other	Undecided
Change Research (D) [22]	November 2–4, 2018	851	–	51%	41%	5% [23]	–
Emerson College [24]	November 1–4, 2018	514	± 4.5%	54%	38%	–	5%
Mason-Dixon [25]	October 18–22, 2018	500	± 4.5%	54%	31%	3% [26]	12%
Public Opinion Strategies (R-Johnson) [27]	August 1–3 & 5, 2018	400	± 4.9%	54%	33%	–	10%
Public Policy Polling (D-Bjorkman) [28]	July 19–20, 2018	641	± 3.9%	43%	33%	–	14%

Results

South Dakota's at-large congressional district, 2018 ^[29]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Dusty Johnson	202,446	60.35%	−3.75%
	Democratic	Tim Bjorkman	120,816	36.01%	+0.11%
	Independent	Ron Wieczorek	7,313	2.18%	N/A
	Libertarian	George D. Hendrickson	4,896	1.46%	N/A
Total votes			335,471	100.00%	N/A
	Republican hold

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Corson (Largest city: McLaughlin)

See also

• United States portal
• Politics portal

• 2018 United States House of Representatives elections
• 2018 United States elections

References

1. Ellis, Jonathan (November 14, 2016). "Noem announces historic bid for governor". Argus Leader . Retrieved November 15, 2016.
2. Pathé, Simone (November 15, 2016). "Who Could Run for Kristi Noem's At-Large Seat?". Roll Call . Retrieved November 15, 2016.
3. Ferguson, Dana (January 29, 2018). "Former Trump state campaign director Neal Tapio announces bid for U.S. House". Argus Leader .
4. Powers, Pat (May 20, 2017). "Man files Tennessee based Statement of Candidacy to run as Republican in South Dakota Congressional race?". South Dakota War College. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
5. Heidelberger, Cory (May 22, 2017). "SD Republican Among First Ten Bernie-Bloomer "Brand New Congress" Candidates to File". Dakota Free Press. Retrieved May 25, 2017.
6. Mason-Dixon
7. Strubinger, Lee (June 7, 2018). "Bjorkman Says There's Key Differences Between Him, Johnson". South Dakota Public Radio. Retrieved April 11, 2024.
8. Leischner, Mike (April 11, 2017). "Rapid City Democrat emerges as US House candidate". KELO . Archived from the original on April 14, 2017. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
9. Hendershot, Evan (July 7, 2017). "Democratic town hall meeting sets the stage for possible campaign announcement". Mitchell Daily Republic . Archived from the original on August 6, 2017. Retrieved August 6, 2017.
10. Lawrence, Tom (November 22, 2016). "The 2018 campaign is underway". Black Hills Pioneer . Retrieved November 24, 2016.
11. Raposa, Megan (February 23, 2017). "Herseth Sandlin: 'I am done seeking political office'". Argus Leader . Retrieved April 1, 2017.
12. Anderson, Patrick (December 19, 2016). "Huether dumps Dems amid speculation of statewide run". Argus Leader . Retrieved April 1, 2017.
13. Ferguson, Dana (April 12, 2017). "SD Dems' director exits for 'statewide' campaign". Argus Leader . Retrieved April 13, 2017.
14. Ferguson, Dana (May 30, 2017). "Democrats, Sutton enter South Dakota governor race". Argus Leader . Retrieved May 31, 2017.
15. Ferguson, Dana (July 15, 2017). "Medical cannabis advocate, former police officer enters U.S. House race". Argus Leader . Retrieved July 16, 2017.
16. "2018 Candidates". January 8, 2018.
17. Sneve, Joe (March 7, 2017). "Huether moves hint at 2018 run". Argus Leader . Retrieved April 1, 2017.
18. Ferguson, Danielle; Sneve, Joe (June 22, 2017). "Mayor Mike Huether not seeking U.S. House seat". Argus Leader . Retrieved July 1, 2017.
19. "House Maps". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
20. "South Dakota | Inside Elections". insideelections.com. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
21. "Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball » 2018 House". www.centerforpolitics.org. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
22. Change Research (D)
23. Ron Wieczorek (I) with 3%, George Hendrickson (L) with 2%
24. Emerson College
25. Mason-Dixon
26. Ron Wieczorek (I) with 2%, George Hendrickson (L) with 1%
27. Public Opinion Strategies (R-Johnson) ^{[ permanent dead link ‍]}
28. Public Policy Polling (D-Bjorkman)
29. Johnson, Cheryl L. (February 28, 2019). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 2018". Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives . Retrieved April 27, 2019.

External links

• Candidates at Vote Smart
• Candidates at Ballotpedia
• Campaign finance at FEC
• Campaign finance at OpenSecrets

Official campaign websites

• Tim Bjorkman (D) for Congress
• George Hendrickson (L) for Congress Archived January 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
• Dusty Johnson (R) for Congress
• Ron Wieczorek (I) for Congress Archived August 28, 2018, at the Wayback Machine