This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: This article has been updated to reflect a corrected sum for Noem’s campaign.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) –Third quarter federal campaign finance reports were published Saturday by the FEC, giving us a closer look at South Dakota candidates with federal election committees.
These include Republicans Governor Kristi Noem, Senator John Thune and Representative Dusty Johnson, along with Democrat Brian Bengs, who is running against Thune.
Noem’s opponents, Libertarian Tracey Quint and Democrat Jamie Smith, do not appear to have federal committees. Nor does Johnson’s Libertarian challenger Collin Duprel.
These reports give us an idea of the amount of money held by each campaign.
Noem’s ‘Noem Victory Fund‘, for instance, began 2022 with $70,457.39 on hand. As of Oct. 15, that total had risen to $680,413.35.
The most the Fund had possessed in 2022 had been $1,465,495.56, though the campaign has spent over a million of that this year, totaling $1,248,669.9. More than $122,000 it was spent in the third quarter (Aug.-Oct.).
Thune has three federal committees that have filed reports for Q3: Thune Victory Committee, Thune Young Victory and John Thune Victory Committee. He began the year with $2,267.26 in the Thune Victory Committee. That committee raised no more money in 2022 and spent its balance prior to Q3.
The other two committees compiled a total of $312,079.48 in 2022, with $56,398.03 remaining on hand as of Q3. All total, his three committees have spent $332,947.88 YTD.
Johnson’s Friends of Dusty Johnson gathered more funds than any other candidate, amassing $2,476,055.20 in a period running from July 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022, according to his Q3 report.
Of that money, $2,264,896.91 remained as of the Q3 report deadline, with the campaign claiming total disbursements of $1,248,669.90.
Bengs, whose report also covers the July 2021 to September 2022 period, gathered a total of $346,134.02 through the Brian Bengs For Senate committee. Total disbursements have been $291,798.89, leaving $54,335.13 on hand.
The FEC reports also allow us to take a look at the donors that have sent their funds to the candidates, including those who have made contributions of $2,000 or greater.
Below, we break down the numbers of $2,000+ donors to each candidate in the 2021-2022 reporting period and look at where the donors come from.
For Gov. Noem, the largest amount (91) of her large donors hail from South Dakota, though overall these only account for 24.46% of all her large donors. (Note: this report does not account for people donating less than $2,000). The second highest number of donors come from Texas (71).
Donations over $2,000 to Noem by state
| SD | 91 |
| TX | 71 |
| CA | 29 |
| MN | 21 |
| TN | 21 |
| CO | 19 |
| WY | 16 |
| NV | 15 |
| FL | 14 |
| GA | 7 |
| IL | 6 |
| NY | 6 |
| LA | 5 |
| NC | 5 |
| OK | 5 |
| MI | 4 |
| OH | 4 |
| WA | 4 |
| NE | 3 |
| PA | 3 |
| SC | 3 |
| UT | 3 |
| VA | 3 |
| WI | 3 |
| AZ | 2 |
| KS | 2 |
| AL | 1 |
| IA | 1 |
| ID | 1 |
| KY | 1 |
| MO | 1 |
| NM | 1 |
| PR | 1 |
For Sen. Thune, the majority of his large donors, spread across three committees, came from California (90), followed Texas (84) and then South Dakota (77), which itself came just ahead of New York (76).
Donations over $2,000 to Thune by state
| CA | 90 |
| TX | 84 |
| SD | 77 |
| NY | 76 |
| FL | 50 |
| VA | 34 |
| CO | 31 |
| CT | 27 |
| DC | 27 |
| IL | 20 |
| TN | 16 |
| NJ | 13 |
| NV | 13 |
| MA | 10 |
| KS | 7 |
| MD | 7 |
| MI | 6 |
| WA | 6 |
| LA | 5 |
| MN | 5 |
| NC | 5 |
| OK | 5 |
| PA | 5 |
| NE | 4 |
| SC | 4 |
| KY | 3 |
| OH | 3 |
| AL | 2 |
| AR | 2 |
| AZ | 2 |
| DE | 2 |
| UT | 2 |
| GA | 1 |
| IN | 1 |
| MO | 1 |
| MT | 1 |
In contrast to his peers, Rep. Johnson boasts a concentration of large donors from South Dakota, accounting for 84.68% of them.
Donations over $2,000 to Johnson by state
| SD | 199 |
| CA | 9 |
| MN | 9 |
| NY | 7 |
| MA | 2 |
| TX | 2 |
| AL | 1 |
| CO | 1 |
| CT | 1 |
| DC | 1 |
| GA | 1 |
| OK | 1 |
| PA | 1 |
Democrat Brian Bengs had no large donors from South Dakota, though former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) accounts for his D.C. donation. Bengs only received four large donations, from a total of three donors.
Donations over $2,000 to Bengs by state
| CA | 2 |
| DC | 1 |
| AZ | 1 |
