Oldest and Youngest SD GOV’s

Updated to reflect the result of the primary election. An updated version of this post has been added to the Online Almanac of South Dakota Politics.

The two major party nominees for Governor of South Dakota are Republican Kristi Noem and Democrat Billie Sutton.  In earlier posts, this blog looked at various historical milestones each candidate has reached, or would reach if elected.  (You can see those here: Noem, Sutton as well as a post for Marty Jackley.)

Although Sutton is an underdog to Noem, if elected he would set a milestone as the youngest governor in South Dakota history, taking office at age 34 and breaking Richard F. Kneip’s record of 37.  This potential milestone has been mentioned by bloggers including Tom Lawrence and Cory Heidelberger.

Heidelberger also calculated the age of each governor upon assuming office.  A similar chart is provided below, ranking each of the state’s 32 governors by age:

#	Governor	Date of birth	Date of inaugural	Age at inaugural
29	Walter Dale Miller	October 05, 1925	April 19, 1993	67 yrs, 196 days
13	Warren E. Green	March 10, 1869	January 06, 1931	61 yrs, 302 days
11	Carl Gunderson	June 20, 1864	January 06, 1925	60 yrs, 200 days
12	W. J. Bulow	January 13, 1869	January 04, 1927	57 yrs, 356 days
32	Dennis Daugaard	June 11, 1953	January 08, 2011	57 yrs, 211 days
16	Harlan J. Bushfield	August 06, 1882	January 03, 1939	56 yrs, 150 days
30	William J. Janklow	September 13, 1939	January 07, 1995	55 yrs, 116 days
17	M. Q. Sharpe	January 11, 1888	January 05, 1943	54 yrs, 359 days
8	Frank M. Byrne	October 23, 1858	January 07, 1913	54 yrs, 76 days
14	Tom Berry	April 23, 1879	January 03, 1933	53 yrs, 255 days
2	Charles H. Sheldon	September 12, 1840	January 03, 1893	52 yrs, 113 days
23	Nils A. Boe	September 10, 1913	January 05, 1965	51 yrs, 117 days
7	Robert S. Vessey	May 16, 1858	January 05, 1909	50 yrs, 234 days
22	Archie Gubbrud	December 31, 1910	January 03, 1961	50 yrs, 3 days
3	Andrew E. Lee	March 18, 1847	January 01, 1897	49 yrs, 289 days
21	Ralph E. Herseth	July 02, 1909	January 06, 1959	49 yrs, 188 days
6	Coe I. Crawford	January 14, 1858	January 08, 1907	48 yrs, 359 days
5	Samuel H. Elrod	May 01, 1856	January 03, 1905	48 yrs, 247 days
31	M. Michael Rounds	October 24, 1954	January 07, 2003	48 yrs, 75 days
1	Arthur C. Mellette	June 23, 1842	November 02, 1889	47 yrs, 132 days
19	Sigurd Anderson	January 22, 1904	January 02, 1951	46 yrs, 345 days
9	Peter Norbeck	August 27, 1870	January 02, 1917	46 yrs, 128 days
28	George S. Mickelson	January 31, 1941	January 06, 1987	45 yrs, 340 days
15	Leslie Jensen	September 15, 1892	January 05, 1937	44 yrs, 112 days
10	William H. McMaster	May 10, 1877	January 04, 1921	43 yrs, 239 days
18	George T. Mickelson	July 23, 1903	January 07, 1947	43 yrs, 168 days
4	Charles N. Herreid	October 20, 1857	January 08, 1901	43 yrs, 80 days
26	Harvey L. Wollman	May 14, 1935	July 24, 1978	43 yrs, 71 days
24	Frank Farrar	April 02, 1929	January 07, 1969	39 yrs, 280 days
20	Joe Foss	April 17, 1915	January 04, 1955	39 yrs, 262 days
27	William J. Janklow	September 13, 1939	January 01, 1979	39 yrs, 110 days
25	Richard F. Kneip	January 07, 1933	January 05, 1971	37 yrs, 363 days

Notes:  This chart calculates the age at which each governor first took office.  It does not include second or third consecutive terms.  William J. Janklow is listed twice – once when he took office in 1979, and again when he returned to office in 1995.  Unlike Heidelberger’s chart, this chart does not attempt to include “months” in the age, as a “month” is not a standard length.

The oldest governor, Walter Dale Miller, was 67 when he succeeded to office upon the death of Gov. George S. Mickelson.  The oldest elected governor was Warren E. Green, who was 61 when he took office in 1931.  The three oldest elected governors – Gunderson, Bulow, and Green, served in a row from 1925 to 1933.

Likewise, three of the four youngest governors – Farrar, Kneip, and Janklow – were elected consecutively in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sutton would be 34 years, 295 days old – more than three years younger than Dick Kneip was – if he took office on January 5, 2019.  (Traditionally the inauguration is held on the first Saturday in January.)

Noem would be 47 years, 36 days old, and as the first female governor she would nearly the same age as the first male governor, Arthur C. Mellette, who was also 47 when he took office on the day that South Dakota became a state, November 2, 1889.