Governor Larry Rhoden made it official this week. In events at Rapid City’s historic Alex Johnson Hotel, and at the brand new Canopy Hotel in Sioux Falls’ Steel District, Rhoden announced that he will run for reelection in 2026, seeking to continue to serve as the 34th Governor of South Dakota.
Rhoden, 66, is a Union Center rancher and legislative veteran who has served for six years as lieutenant governor before succeeding to the Governor’s Office in January 2025, when Governor Kristi Noem resigned to become U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. He and his wife, First Lady Sandy Rhoden, have four sons and seven grandchildren.
Rhoden is the second Meade County native to serve as governor, following Walter Dale Miller, who like him was a rancher and longtime legislative leader. He is the third governor to have served in the South Dakota National Guard, and the first since Joe Foss.
Rhoden’s service in Pierre began when he was elected to the State House in 2000. He served in the House from 2001-08, including stints as Majority Leader and as Assistant Majority Leader. In 2008, he was elected to the State Senate, where he chaired the State Affairs Committee, making him the only legislator in state history to chair that important committee in both legislative chambers. In 2014, Rhoden ran for U.S. Senate, finishing second in the Republican primary to former Governor Mike Rounds. He returned to the House for one term, from 2017-18, before being elected lieutenant governor in 2018 alongside Congresswoman Kristi Noem.
Lieutenant Governor Tony Venhuizen will be Rhoden’s designated running mate. Venhuizen, a former state representative, chief of staff to Governors Dennis Daugaard and Kristi Noem, and member of the South Dakota Board of Regents. He was unanimously confirmed by legislators in January 2025 after Rhoden appointed him as lieutenant governor.
As a Meade County rancher, Rhoden is just the fifth governor from West River, following Tom Berry, Leslie Jensen, M. Q. Sharpe, and Walter Dale Miller. If Rhoden wins the Republican primary, he would be the first West River Republican nominated for governor since Carv Thompson, a state representative from Faith who was a pharmacist and owned drug stores in Faith, Deadwood, and McLaughlin. If reelected in November 2026, Rhoden would be the first West River resident elected governor since Sharpe, who was elected in 1942 and reelected in 1944.
Rhoden is just the third lieutenant governor to succeed to the governor’s office, and he would be the first to win a term in his own right:
- In 1978, Lt. Governor Harvey Wollman narrowly lost the Democratic primary to State Senator Roger McKellips of Alcester, by a vote of 49.1% to 47.0%. At the time, Governor Richard F. Kneip had announced that he would be resigning to become U.S. Ambassador to Singapore, but he did not in fact resign until several weeks after the primary election. So, at the time of the primary, Wollman was “governor-in-waiting,” but still lieutenant governor and lacked the advantages of incumbency.
- In 1994, Governor Walter Dale Miller lost the Republican primary to former Governor Bill Janklow, 54.0% to 46.0%. Miller had succeeded to office in April 1993, following the death of Governor George S. Mickelson in a plane crash. The primary therefore pitted Miller, who had been governor for just over a year, against Janklow, who had served in the office for eight years.
Governor Rhoden joins a Republican gubernatorial field that also includes House Speaker Jon Hansen, Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden, and Congressman Dusty Johnson. The field also includes Democrat Robert Arnold and independents Terry Gleason and Allison Renville. There are no more Republicans known to be considering a gubernatorial bid, although another Democratic candidate is likely.
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