Governor Kristi Noem today announced that she will appoint Mark A. Vargo to serve as South Dakota’s thirty-second attorney general. Vargo, a Rapid City attorney, was elected Pennington County state’s attorney in 2012 and has held that role since 2013. Prior to that, Vargo worked as a deputy state’s attorney in Pennington County and as an assistant U.S. Attorney. He is a graduate of Princeton University and Georgetown Law Center.
Notably, Vargo earlier this month was the lead prosecuting attorney in the State Senate trial of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg; it was Vargo’s success in that trial (alongside his co-counsel, Clay County State’s Attorney Alexis Tracy) that created the vacancy he will now fill.
Vargo will complete the remainder of Ravnsborg’s term as attorney general, which ends in early January 2023. He is not a candidate for reelection and will presumably return to his role as Pennington County state’s attorney next year.
Following last weekend’s State Republican Convention, the Republican nominee for the new term is former Attorney General Marty Jackley. South Dakota Democrats will meet next weekend to consider potential nominees for the office; the Libertarian Party did not contest the race. There had been some thought that Noem, who had endorsed Jackley’s bid to return as AG, could appoint Jackley to fill the vacancy. Presumably, the appointment of Vargo will allow Jackley to focus on the fall campaign and to prepare to potentially wind down his private law practice.
Vargo is the third attorney general to take office through appointment. The first, Adolphus W. Burtt, was appointed in 1902 by Governor Charles Herreid, following the death of Attorney General John L. Pyle (the father of Gladys Pyle). The second was Jackley, who was appointed in 2009 by Governor Mike Rounds after Rounds appointed Attorney General Larry Long to serve as circuit court judge.
Vargo’s appointment also means that South Dakota still has never had a female attorney general. The office, along with that of Chief Justice and of Commissioner of Schools and Public Lands, has been held only by men since statehood in 1889.
Below is a list of South Dakota attorneys general:
| 1 | Robert Dollard | R | 1889–1893 |
| 2 | Coe I. Crawford | R | 1893–1897 |
| 3 | Melvin Grigsby | POP | 1897–1899 |
| 4 | John L. Pyle1 | R | 1899–1902 |
| 5 | Adolphus W. Burtt1 | R | 1902–1903 |
| 6 | Philo Hall | R | 1903–1907 |
| 7 | S. Wesley Clark | R | 1907–1911 |
| 8 | Royal C. Johnson | R | 1911–1915 |
| 9 | Clarence C. Caldwell | R | 1915–1919 |
| 10 | Byron S. Payne | R | 1919–1923 |
| 11 | Buell F. Jones | R | 1923–1929 |
| 12 | M. Q. Sharpe | R | 1929–1933 |
| 13 | Walter Conway | D | 1933–1937 |
| 14 | Clair Roddewig | D | 1937–1939 |
| 15 | Leo A. Temmey | R | 1939–1943 |
| 16 | George T. Mickelson | R | 1943–1947 |
| 17 | Sigurd Anderson | R | 1947–1951 |
| 18 | Ralph A. Dunham | R | 1951–1955 |
| 19 | Phil Saunders | R | 1955–1959 |
| 20 | Parnell J. Donahue | D | 1959–1961 |
| 21 | A. C. Miller | R | 1961–1963 |
| 22 | Frank Farrar | R | 1963–1969 |
| 23 | Gordon Mydland | R | 1969–1973 |
| 24 | Kermit Sande | D | 1973–1975 |
| 25 | William J. Janklow | R | 1975–1979 |
| 26 | Mark Meierhenry | R | 1979–1987 |
| 27 | Roger Tellinghuisen | R | 1987–1991 |
| 28 | Mark Barnett | R | 1991–2003 |
| 29 | Lawrence E. Long2 | R | 2003–2009 |
| 30 | Marty J. Jackley2 | R | 2009–2019 |
| 31 | Jason R. Ravnsborg3 | R | 2019–2022 |
| 32 | Mark A. Vargo3 | R | 2022–2023 |
1 Pyle died in 1902, and Gov. Herreid appointed Burtt to succeed him.
2 Long resigned in 2009 to accept appointment as a circuit court judge, and Gov. Rounds appointed Jackley to succeed him.
3 Ravnsborg was impeached and removed from office in 2022, and Gov. Noem appointed Vargo to succeed him.
SoDak Governors 