Dan Ahlers, a former state legislator and the executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, announced plans today to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Ahlers, 52, is a Dell Rapids businessman who served in the State House from 2007-08 and 2017-18, and in the State Senate from 2009-10. He was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020, losing to incumbent U.S. Senator Mike Rounds.
Ahlers joins a Democratic field that also includes Dakota State University student Robert Arnold of Pierre; it is likely that, given Ahlers’ position and past service, he is the preferred candidate of the Democratic Party’s powers-that-be.
His hometown of Dell Rapids is also the home of fellow gubernatorial candidate Speaker Jon Hansen, as well as former Governor Dennis Daugaard.
Ahlers seeks to become the first Democratic governor since Harvey Wollman, who served in 1978-79, and the first Democrat elected Governor since Richard F. Kneip, who was elected in 1970, 1972, and 1974.
The South Dakota Governor’s Office has been held by the Republican Party since 1979, currently the longest such streak of partisan control in the nation, and the Democrats have lost the last 12 governor’s elections. The party is also at historic lows in legislative control, a trend that has continued since 2010, the year in which Ahlers lost his State Senate reelection to Tim Rave.
If Ahlers wins the Democratic nomination, he will face the winner of the Republican primary, which features incumbent Governor Larry Rhoden, Congressman Dusty Johnson, House Speaker Jon Hansen, and Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden. In addition, three independent candidates have announced plans to seek the Governor’s Office: Terry Gleason of Chamberlain, Allison Renville of Sioux Falls, and Scott Morris, also of Sioux Falls.
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