One Democrat is running for South Dakota’s At-Large U.S. House seat—the most since 2018


This year’s filing deadline for candidates running for Congress in South Dakota was March 26, 2024.

Two candidates are running for South Dakota’s one U.S. House district, including one Democrat and one Republican. That’s the same as the two candidates who ran in 2022, 2020, 2016, and 2014. Four candidates ran in 2018, the only election cycle this decade in which more than two candidates ran for South Dakota’s At-Large Congressional District.

Here are some other highlights from this year’s filings:

  • Incumbent Dusty Johnson (R) is running for re-election. The only time the district was open this decade was in 2018 when Kristi Noem (R) retired to run for governor.
  • No primaries are contested this year. One primary was contested in 2022, 2020, and 2018, respectively. No primaries were contested in 2016 and 2014.
  • Johnson is not facing a primary challenger this year. He faced primary challengers in 2022 and 2020. 
  • This year is the first election cycle since 2018 in which a Democratic candidate was on the ballot. No Democratic candidates were on the ballot in 2022 and 2020. One Democratic candidate was on the ballot in 2018, 2016, and 2014, respectively.
  • Candidates filed to run in the Republican and Democratic primaries, meaning the seat is not guaranteed to either party.

The June 4 Democratic and Republican primaries were canceled in South Dakota, and both candidates advanced from their respective primaries.