Election Day is finally here. Once the polls are closed and the results are known, this blog will write about various historical milestones that have been achieved. Lots of good historical information is also available on this blog’s Online Almanac of South Dakota Politics.
In the meantime, here are a few things to watch for:
South Dakota milestones
- The 100th Session of the South Dakota State Legislature, elected today and convening in 2025, almost certainly will include the most female members in state history. That milestone was set in 2023 with 31 women serving. Making a few reasonable assumptions, this blog estimates the new legislature will include at least 35 women, and could have as many as 44.
- Republicans currently hold their biggest legislative margins since the 1953 State Legislature, which had 108 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Incredibly, Democrats have not gained legislative seats since 2008; in every election since, Republicans have either gained or held even. With several competitive legislative races around the state, it remains to be seen if the Democrats can reverse that trend this year.
- The 2024 election is the first since at least 1978 in which Republicans have more than 50% of the registered voters. That list is posted here. Republican advantage over Democrats has increased markedly, from 7.0% in 2008, to 15% in 2016, to 27.3% in 2024.
- Dusty Johnson is heavily favored to win his fourth term in the U.S. House, as he faces his first Democratic opponent since he was first elected in 2018. Given the heavy turnout driven by the presidential race, he likely will not top John Thune’s record of 75.1% for the at-large U.S. House seat, achieved in the low-turnout election of 1998, but he will achieve a strong win going into 2026.
- Kristie Fiegen will also likely be reelected, winning a third six-year term on the Public Utilities Commission. That will make her the first woman on this blog’s “Over 25” Club, a list of South Dakotans who have served at least twenty-five years in state or federal elected office. Fiegen’s 8 years in the state legislature and her 18+ years on the PUC would total to more than 26 years of service in elected office. (The list assumes that elected officials will complete their current terms). Fiegen’s fellow commissioners, Chris Nelson and Gary Hanson, are already members of the Over 25 Club.
- South Dakotans today also consider several consequential ballot measures. For the purposes of South Dakota’s political history, the most notable in Amendment H, which would institute an all-party, top-two primary for future elections for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, Governor, and State Legislature. That would end the current partisan primary system that has been in place, with some modifications over time, since 1908. (Prior to that time, party conventions selected all nominees.)
Presidential milestones (to mention a few)
- It’s a near certainty that the Republican ticket of Donald J. Trump and J. D. Vance will carry South Dakota; the state last voted for a Democratic ticket in 1964. It remains to be seen if the Trump/Vance ticket will break the state record for support for a presidential ticket. That record of 69.27% was set by the Republican ticket of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon in 1952. The Trump/Vance ticket as a better chance of finishing second all-time; it would need to exceed 63.62% to best the 1932 Democratic ticket of Franklin D. Roosevelt and John Nance Garner. (Trump already holds #4 and #5 all-time from his earlier candidacies).
- If elected, Trump will be the oldest incoming president in history, breaking the record set by Joe Biden, who broke the record set by… Donald Trump. Trump would also join Grover Cleveland as the second president to be elected to non-consecutive terms. Trump would be the first person to be elected president after surviving an assassination attempt. He’s already made history as the ninth person to be a major party nominee for president three times.
- Kamala Harris, if elected, would be the first female president, the first Asian-American president, and the second African-American president (after Barack Obama). She would also be the first female, African-American president. She would be the fourth president to be elected from California, following Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan, and the first California Democrat. Joe Biden made history earlier this year as the fourth one-term president to not seek reelection, and the first since Rutherford B. Hayes.
SoDak Governors 