SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Voting has started for the June primary election.
KELOLAND Media Group is helping people get to know the candidates for legislative primaries.
The South Dakota Legislature has 105 seats, 35 in the Senate and 70 in the House.
Republicans have at least one candidate for all 35 of the Senate seats, while Democrats filed for only 12. In the House, Republicans filed at least one candidate for all 70 seats. Democrats aren’t running for 32 of the seats.
South Dakota has 35 legislative districts; the current Legislature drew new boundaries last fall that will be used in the 2022 through 2030 legislative elections. Each district has one Senate seat and two at-large House seats (with the exceptions of House districts 26 and 28; each of those is broken roughly in half and each of the four halves elects one representative.)
Each party can have one candidate for the Senate seat and two House candidates for the House seats in a district. The June 7 primaries will decide a party’s nomination for the Senate seat and the party’s nominations for the two House seats, with those nominees advancing to the November general election ballots.
In District 13, which is made up of southern Sioux Falls, there won’t be any Senate primaries. Republican incumbent Jack Kolbeck is the lone candidate.
In the House, there will be a Republican primary featuring incumbents Richard Thomason, Sue Peterson and challengers Penny BayBridge and Tony Venhuizen. There is no Democratic candidate.
This story will be updated with answers and photos from candidates when they are received.
