To date, South Dakota’s thirty-three governors have all considered themselves to be Christian. Thirty-one of them have been members of Protestant churches.
Lutheranism is the most common affiliation, in large part because the 1950s and 1960s saw the election of four Norwegian Lutheran governors: Sigurd Anderson, Ralph Herseth, Archie Gubbrud and Nils Boe. Earlier governors had been members of other mainline Protestant churches, reflecting their roots in the American northeast and Great Lakes regions. As old religious divisions have faded away, South Dakota has seen two Roman Catholics elected governor: Dick Kneip in the 1970s, and Mike Rounds in the 2000s.
Here is the complete list:
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St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Sioux Falls. Two SD governors have been Roman Catholic. Lutheran (8) – Peter Norbeck, W. J. Bulow, Sigurd Anderson, Ralph Herseth, Archie
Gubbrud, Nils Boe, Bill Janklow, Dennis Daugaard - Methodist (7) – Samuel Elrod, Robert Vessey, Warren E. Green, Tom Berry, George T. Mickelson, Joe Foss, George S. Mickelson
- Baptist (4) – Charles Sheldon, Andrew E. Lee, Carl Gunderson, Larry Rhoden
- Presbyterian (4) – Charles Herreid, Coe Crawford, Harlan J. Bushfield, Frank Farrar
- Congregational (3) – Arthur C. Mellette, Frank Byrne, M. Q. Sharpe
- Episcopalian (2) – William H. McMaster, Leslie Jensen
- Roman Catholic (2) – Richard F. Kneip, Mike Rounds
- Mennonite (1) – Harvey Wollman
- Non-denominational Protestant (1) – Walter Dale Miller
- Evangelical (1) – Kristi Noem
(These classifications are made based on the best available biographical information. It is possible that some governors changed affiliations during their lives. No attempt has been made to distinguish, for example, specific denominations of “Lutherans.”)
Updated to reflect Kristi Noem’s election in 2018 and the succession in 2025 of Larry Rhoden.
SoDak Governors 