House Speaker Jon Hansen, a state representative from Dell Rapids, announced yesterday afternoon that he will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of South Dakota in 2026.
Hansen, 39, is an eleven-year veteran of the State House. He was first elected in 2010, serving for three years from 2011-13 before he resigned to attend law school. After completing his legal education and entering private practice, he returned to the State House in 2018, and is term-limited as he completes his fourth consecutive term.
Hansen served as Speaker Pro Tempore in 2021-22. He lost a bid for House Speaker in 2023 to Rep. Hugh Bartels of Watertown, but was elected Speaker to follow Bartels in 2025. Hansen has also served as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.
In launching his gubernatorial bid, Hansen announced that his running mate will be Rep. Karla Lems, a second-term member of the State House from Canton. Lems was elected in 2025 as Speaker Pro Tempore; she is the first woman in state history to hold that position. If elected, Lems would be the second woman to serve as lieutenant governor, following Carole Hillard.
Hansen is the first to officially launch a 2026 gubernatorial bid, in what is expected to be a crowded and competitive field. Other Republicans thought to be considering candidacies include Governor Larry Rhoden, Congressman Dusty Johnson, Attorney General Marty Jackley, and Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden.
Hansen’s decision to announce Lems as his running mate is unusual in South Dakota history. Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor have run as a ticket since 1974. Since that time, there have only been four instances where a non-incumbent gubernatorial candidate picked his running mate before the primary. Hansen’s selection of Lems is the first time the running mate selection in conjunction with the launch of a gubernatorial candidacy.
Hansen is currently 39 years old. He will be 40 at the time of the 2026 primary and general elections and, if elected, would take office at the age of 41. That would make Hansen the fifth-youngest governor in state history. Four governors took office in their thirties: Richard F. Kneip, who is the youngest governor in state history at age 37; and Joe Foss, Frank Farrar, and Bill Janklow, all of whom were 39.
Hansen would be the fifth governor to come from Minnehaha County, following Joe Foss and Nils Boe of Sioux Falls; Bill Janklow, who had moved to Brandon prior to returning in 1994; and Dennis Daugaard, who like Hansen is from Dell Rapids.
Dell Rapids High School would become just the third high school to graduate two future governors, following Sioux Falls Washington (Foss and George S. Mickelson) and Augustana Academy (Boe and Sigurd Anderson), which was a Lutheran high school in Canton. Hansen, who earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Sioux Falls, would be the first alumnus of that school to serve as governor; as a graduate of the University of South Dakota law school, he would be the 11th governor to hold a degree from USD.
The Hansen/Lems ticket is notable for its lack of geographic diversity, with their home communities of Dell Rapids and Canton only about 45 miles apart. The only comparable tickets are the 1978 Republican ticket, which featured Bill Janklow running from Flandreau and Lowell C. Hansen II running from Sioux Falls; and the 2010 Democratic ticket, which included Scott Heidepriem and Ben Arndt, both of Sioux Falls.
Twenty-four of the state’s thirty-four governors have prior service in the State Legislature, and 10 of them served in the State House, including incumbent Governor Larry Rhoden. Hansen would be the fifth Speaker of the House to serve as Governor, following George T. Mickelson, Archie Gubbrud, Nils Boe, George S. Mickelson, and Walter Dale Miller.
Likewise, Lems’ experience as a state legislator is by far the most common path to the office of lieutenant governor. Thirty-one of the state’s forty lieutenant governors previously served in the state legislature. Lems would be the second lieutenant governor from Lincoln County, following the incumbent.
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