Running mates in the primary

This page is based on a post written during the 2018 gubernatorial election and has been kept up to date.

The nomination and election of the lieutenant governor in South Dakota has evolved over time, as this blog as written about. Since 1974, when candidates for governor and lieutenant governor first ran as a ticket, a non-incumbent candidate for governor announced a running mate before a contested primary in just the following instances:

Carole Hillard
Lt. Governor Carole Hillard
  • 1994 – Bill Janklow picked Carole Hillard, a Rapid City state representative, as his running mate during the primary. Janklow was running against Governor Walter Dale Miller, who as an incumbent already had a running mate in Lt. Governor Steve Kirby. Janklow/Hillard prevailed in the primary and in November.
  • 1994 – That same year, Democrat Carroll “Red” Allen, a state senator from Lake Andes, announced that his LG pick would be Rep. Pat Haley of Huron. Allen, whose campaign centered on his advocacy for a state income tax, finished a distant second in the Democratic primary to DWU President Jim Beddow.
  • 2002 – Steve Kirby, who was in a competitive primary against Mark Barnett and Mike Rounds, selected Harvey Krautschun, a former house speaker from Spearfish. Kirby lost the primary to Rounds, who won in the fall.
  • 2010 – Gordon Howie, a Rapid City state senator who identified with the “Tea Party” movement, selected Kermit Staggers, a Sioux Falls city councilman and former state senator who had just lost in a bid for mayor. Howie finished fourth in the primary, behind Dennis Daugaard, Scott Munsterman and Dave Knudson. None of the other primary candidates selected a running mate, although Munsterman had announced that he would allow the State Republican Convention to pick his running mate, rather than making a selection himself.
  • 2026 – Jon Hansen, a Dell Rapids lawyer and house speaker, selected fellow State Representative Karla Lems of Canton, the house speaker pro tempore, as his running mate. In a first, Hansen announced Lems as a part of his campaign launch, rather than waiting until later in the primary campaign.

There is one more instance that doesn’t exactly qualify.  Earlier this year, Lora Hubbel, who was running for governor as a Republican, announced that her running mate would be Bruce Whalen of Pine Ridge, the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. House. Hubbel, however, failed to qualify for the gubernatorial ballot and is now running for state senator.