2020 South Dakota Senate election

2020 South Dakota Senate election

←  2018 November 3, 2020 2022  →
All 35 seats in the South Dakota Senate 18 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	64.31% [1]
Majority party Minority party   Leader Kris Langer (retiring) Troy Heinert Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 25th district 26th district Seats before 30 5 Seats won 32 3 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 271,017 78,110 Percentage 72.83% 20.99%
Results by gains and holds Results by winning party vote share Results:      Republican gain      Democratic hold     Republican hold Vote share:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%      50–60%
Majority Leader before election Kris Langer Republican Majority Leader after election Gary Cammack Republican

Elections to the South Dakota Senate were held on November 3, 2020 as a part of the biennial elections in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Voters in 35 single-member constituencies elected members to the 93rd Senate. Elections were also held in the state for U.S. president, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House, and the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Primary elections were held on June 2, 2020. ^[2]

Background

The Republican Party had been in majority control of the Senate since 1995, and had not come close to losing it since then. Although the Democratic Party held some support from urban areas and districts with a large Native American population, they had been losing seats over time; the last time Democrats held a number of seats in the double digits was 2010.

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report [3]	Safe R	October 21, 2020

Results

Overview

Summary of the November 3, 2020 South Dakota Senate election

Party		Candidates	Votes	%	Seats
					Before	After	+/–
	Republican	35	271,017	72.83	30	32	2
	Democratic	17	78,110	20.99	5	3	2
	Libertarian	7	13,938	3.75	0	0
	Independent	2	9,045	2.43	0	0
Total			372,110	100.00	35	35
Registered/Turnout			578,655	64.31
Source: South Dakota Secretary of State

Popular vote

Republican			72.83%
Democratic			20.99%
Libertarian			3.75%
Others			2.43%

Senate seats

Republican			91.43%
Democratic			8.57%

By district

District	Incumbent	Party		Elected	Party
1st	Susan Wismer		Dem	Michael H. Rohl		Rep
2nd	Brock Greenfield		Rep	Brock Greenfield		Rep
3rd	Al Novstrup		Rep	Al Novstrup		Rep
4th	John Wiik		Rep	John Wiik		Rep
5th	Lee Schoenbeck		Rep	Lee Schoenbeck		Rep
6th	Ernie Otten		Rep	Herman Otten		Rep
7th	V. J. Smith		Rep	V. J. Smith		Rep
8th	Casey Crabtree		Rep	Casey Crabtree		Rep
9th	Wayne Steinhauer		Rep	Wayne Steinhauer		Rep
10th	Margaret Sutton		Rep	Margaret Sutton		Rep
11th	Jim Stalzer		Rep	Jim Stalzer		Rep
12th	Blake Curd		Rep	Blake Curd		Rep
13th	Jack Kolbeck		Rep	Jack Kolbeck		Rep
14th	Deb Soholt		Rep	Larry Zikmund		Rep
15th	Reynold Nesiba		Dem	Reynold Nesiba		Dem
16th	Jim Bolin		Rep	Jim Bolin		Rep
17th	Arthur Rusch		Rep	Arthur Rusch		Rep
18th	Craig Kennedy		Dem	Jean Hunhoff		Rep
19th	Kyle Schoenfish		Rep	Kyle Schoenfish		Rep
20th	Joshua Klumb		Rep	Joshua Klumb		Rep
21st	Rocky Blare		Rep	Erin Tobin		Rep
22nd	Jim White		Rep	David Wheeler		Rep
23rd	John A. Lake		Rep	Bryan J. Breitling		Rep
24th	Jeff Monroe		Rep	Mary Duvall		Rep
25th	Kris Langer		Rep	Marsha Symens		Rep
26th	Troy Heinert		Dem	Troy Heinert		Dem
27th	Red Dawn Foster		Dem	Red Dawn Foster		Dem
28th	Ryan Maher		Rep	Ryan Maher		Rep
29th	Gary Cammack		Rep	Gary Cammack		Rep
30th	Lance Russell		Rep	Julie Frye-Mueller		Rep
31st	Bob Ewing		Rep	Timothy Johns		Rep
32nd	Helene Duhamel		Rep	Helene Duhamel		Rep
33rd	Phil Jensen		Rep	David Johnson		Rep
34th	Jeffrey Partridge		Rep	Michael Diedrich		Rep
35th	Jessica Castleberry		Rep	Jessica Castleberry		Rep

Close races

Districts where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. District 26, 5.68%
2. District 12, 8.14%
3. District 15, 9.50%

Red denotes races won by Republicans. Blue denotes races won by Democrats.

Election results

^[4]

District 1 • District 2 • District 3 • District 4 • District 5 • District 6 • District 7 • District 8 • District 9 • District 10 • District 11 • District 12 • District 13 • District 14 • District 15 • District 16 • District 17 • District 18 • District 19 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22 • District 23 • District 24 • District 25 • District 26 • District 27 • District 28 • District 29 • District 30 • District 31 • District 32 • District 33 • District 34 • District 35

District 1

South Dakota Senate District 1 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael H. Rohl	6,051	55.19%
	Democratic	Susan Wismer (Incumbent)	4,913	44.81%
Total votes			10,964	100%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 2

South Dakota Senate District 2 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brock L. Greenfield (Incumbent)	8,154	100%
Total votes			8,154	100%
	Republican hold

District 3

South Dakota Senate District 3 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Al Novstrup (Incumbent)	7,496	100%
Total votes			7,496	100%
	Republican hold

District 4

South Dakota Senate District 4 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Wiik (Incumbent)	9,538	82.62%
	Libertarian	Daryl Root	2,007	17.38%
Total votes			11,545	100%
	Republican hold

District 5

South Dakota Senate District 5 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lee Schoenbeck (Incumbent)	8,272	79.04%
	Libertarian	Adam Jewell	2,193	20.96%
Total votes			10,465	100%
	Republican hold

District 6

South Dakota Senate District 6 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Herman Otten	10,194	66.74%
	Democratic	Nancy Kirstein	5,081	33.26%
Total votes			15,275	100
	Republican hold

District 7

South Dakota Senate District 7 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	V.J. Smith (Incumbent)	6,650	100%
Total votes			6,650	100%
	Republican hold

District 8

South Dakota Senate District 8 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Casey Crabtree (Incumbent)	7,829	100%
Total votes			7,829	100%
	Republican hold

District 9

South Dakota Senate District 9 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Wayne H. Steinhauer (Incumbent)	7,654	57.96%
	Democratic	Suzanne "Suzie" Jones Pranger	5,552	42.04%
Total votes			13,206	100%
	Republican hold

District 10

South Dakota Senate District 10 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Maggie Sutton (Incumbent)	7,205	100%
Total votes			7,205	100%
	Republican hold

District 11

South Dakota Senate District 11 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Stalzer (Incumbent)	8,244	60.47%
	Democratic	Tom Cool	5,389	39.53%
Total votes			13,633	100%
	Republican hold

District 12

South Dakota Senate District 12 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	R Blake Curd (Incumbent)	6,599	54.07%
	Democratic	Jessica Meyers	5,606	45.93%
Total votes			12,205	100%
	Republican hold

District 13

South Dakota Senate District 13 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jack Kolbeck (Incumbent)	7,490	56.28%
	Democratic	Elizabeth "Liz" Larson	5,819	43.72%
Total votes			13,309	100%
	Republican hold

District 14

South Dakota Senate District 14 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry P. Zikmund	7,391	56.00%
	Democratic	Timothy Reed	5,808	44.00%
Total votes			13,199	100%
	Republican hold

District 15

South Dakota Senate District 15 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Reynold F. Nesiba (Incumbent)	4,127	54.75%
	Republican	Thor Bardon	3,411	45.25%
Total votes			7,538	100%
	Democratic hold

District 16

South Dakota Senate District 16 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David L. Anderson (Incumbent)	8,383	100%
Total votes			8,383	100%
	Republican hold

District 17

South Dakota Senate District 17 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Arthur Rusch (Incumbent)	6,285	63.87%
	Democratic	Ailee Johns	3,122	31.72%
	Libertarian	Gregory Baldwin	434	4.41%
Total votes			9,841	100%
	Republican hold

District 18

South Dakota Senate District 18 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jean Hunhoff	6,341	59.85%
	Democratic	Jordan Foos	4,255	40.15%
Total votes			10,597	100%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 19

South Dakota Senate District 19 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kyle Schoenfish (Incumbent)	9,766	100%
Total votes			9,766	100%
	Republican hold

District 20

South Dakota Senate District 20 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joshua Klumb (Incumbent)	8,516	85.09%
	Libertarian	Alexander Martin	1,492	14.91%
Total votes			10,008	100%
	Republican hold

District 21

South Dakota Senate District 21 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Erin Tobin	7,629	79.21%
	Democratic	Dan Kerner Andersson	2,002	20.79%
Total votes			9,631	100%
	Republican hold

District 22

South Dakota Senate District 22 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Wheeler	7,397	100%
Total votes			7,397	100%
	Republican hold

District 23

South Dakota Senate District 23 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bryan J. Breitling	9,519	89.56%
	Libertarian	CJ Abernathey	1,110	10.44%
Total votes			10,629	100%
	Republican hold

District 24

South Dakota Senate District 24 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mary Duvall	9,254	100%
Total votes			9,254	100%
	Republican hold

District 25

South Dakota Senate District 25 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Marsha Symens	7,580	58.86%
	Independent	Rick W Knobe	4,205	32.65%
	Independent	Seth William Van't Hof	1,093	8.49%
Total votes			12,878	100%
	Republican hold

District 26

South Dakota Senate District 26 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Troy Heinert (Incumbent)	4,416	52.84%
	Republican	Joel Koskan	3,941	47.16%
Total votes			8,357	100%
	Democratic hold

District 27

South Dakota Senate District 27 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Red Dawn Foster (Incumbent)	3,829	56.25%
	Republican	Judd W Schomp	2,978	43.75%
Total votes			6,807	100%
	Democratic hold

District 28

South Dakota Senate District 28 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ryan M. Maher (Incumbent)	7,506	100%
Total votes			7,506	100%
	Republican hold

District 29

South Dakota Senate District 29 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Gary L. Cammack (Incumbent)	9,350	77.88%
	Libertarian	Kent Wilsey	2,656	22.12%
Total votes			12,006	100%
	Republican hold

District 30

South Dakota Senate District 30 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Julie Frye-Mueller	10,043	71.28%
	Libertarian	A. Gideon Oakes	4,046	28.72%
Total votes			14,089	100%
	Republican hold

District 31

South Dakota Senate District 31 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Timothy R. Johns	9,911	100%
Total votes			9,911	100%
	Republican hold

District 32

South Dakota Senate District 32 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Helene Duhamel (Incumbent)	7,397	64.10%
	Democratic	Michael Calabrese	4,143	35.90%
Total votes			11,540	100%
	Republican hold

District 33

South Dakota Senate District 33 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Johnson	11,369	68.13%
	Democratic	Ryan A. Ryder	5,317	31.87%
Total votes			16,686	100%
	Republican hold

District 34

South Dakota Senate District 34 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael G Diedrich	8,079	64.38%
	Democratic	George Nelson	4,470	35.62%
Total votes			12,549	100%
	Republican hold

District 35

South Dakota Senate District 35 general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jessica Castleberry (Incumbent)	6,012	61.60%
	Democratic	Brian Gentry	3,747	38.40%
Total votes			9,759	100%
	Republican hold

See also

• 2020 South Dakota elections
• 2020 United States state legislative elections

References

1. "Voter Turnout". South Dakota Secretary of State . December 8, 2020.
2. "South Dakota elections, 2020". Ballotpedia.
3. "October Overview: Handicapping the 2020 State Legislature Races". The Cook Political Report . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
4. "2020 South Dakota Senate election results". electionresults.sd.gov.