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Gov. Larry Rhoden to launch 2026 South Dakota governor bid at Rapid City event

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Gov. Larry Rhoden to launch 2026 South Dakota governor bid at Rapid City event


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South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden wants to keep his job as the state’s executive leader for another four years.

Rhoden, the 34th governor of South Dakota, is slated to make a “special announcement” at the Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City on Nov. 18, according to a listing on Eventbrite.

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State Sen. Arch Beal, a Sioux Falls Republican and co-chair of the Strong, Safe & Free PAC, a political action committee aligned with Rhoden, told the Argus Leader in a Nov. 18 phone call that Rhoden plans make his West River announcement in the City of Presidents.

“As far as I can say, he’s running,” Beal said.

Rhoden has been a long-rumored entrant to the state’s gubernatorial election in 2026. He will be the latest and likely last Republican to join next year’s GOP primary contest after Dusty Johnson, South Dakota’s lone representative in the U.S. House; Aberdeen businessman and conservative activist Toby Doeden; and State House Speaker Jon Hansen.

Chamberlain independent Terry Gleason and 20-year-old Democrat Robert Arnold, of Pierre, have also started campaigns for the governor’s seat.

Rhoden launched a campaign website through his formal gubernatorial committee in August, which allowed online visitors to make donations of $10, $25, $50, $100 or other amounts to his campaign.

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The South Dakota governor has remained reticent in the past to show his hand in terms of his campaign efforts. Asked by the Argus Leader in August if the creation of his campaign website, which is paid for by his gubernatorial committee, indicated he would run to retain his executive office, he said the public is free to “interpret” the campaign page as they see fit.

Ian Fury, Rhoden’s campaign spokesperson, acknowledged the Tuesday event in a Nov. 12 phone call with the Argus Leader. He declined to confirm whether the governor would address his entrance to the governor race.

Mike Derby, a Republican state representative based in Black Hawk and chair of Rhoden’s supporter PAC, would not outright confirm Rhoden’s intent to announce his run for governor.

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Asked if Rhoden planned to make public his gubernatorial ambitions at the Rapid City event, Derby said, “I think it would be worth your while [to go].”

Rhoden was previously critical of the idea of announcing a campaign bid in 2025. Also asked by the Argus Leader in August when he would make his announcement, Rhoden said he would not declare his candidacy until at least after the state’s special legislative session on Sept. 23, when the Legislature voted on legislation to construct a new men’s prison in Sioux Falls.

Rhoden previously served as the 39th lieutenant governor of South Dakota under former Gov. Kristi Noem from Jan. 5, 2019 to Jan. 2025.

Rhoden succeeded to his current post on Jan. 25 midway through Noem’s second term as governor after she resigned to join President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

A lifelong South Dakotan, Rhoden currently lives in Union Center, a small rural community in Meade County, where he runs a ranching operation.

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Prior to serving as Noem’s lieutenant governor, Rhoden served four terms as a state representative in the South Dakota legislature from 2001 to 2008.

Rhoden then switched chambers to the South Dakota Senate, in which he held a seat from 2009 to 2014.

His legislative winning streak was ended in 2014, however, after former two-term governor and now-U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds overcame Rhoden in that year’s Republican primary.

Rhoden returned to the South Dakota legislature in 2017, after winning his district’s seat in the state House, of which he was named Majority Whip. He planned to run again in 2018, but he withdrew from the race after being chosen as Noem’s running mate, according to previous Argus Leader reporting.

According to his biography page on the governor’s office website, Rhoden served six years in the South Dakota National Guard after graduating high school.

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South Dakota

South Dakota ends 2026 fiscal year with $69 million surplus

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South Dakota ends 2026 fiscal year with  million surplus











South Dakota ends 2026 fiscal year with $69 million surplus | DRGNews











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SD Lottery Millionaire for Life winning numbers for July 12, 2026

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The South Dakota Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at July 12, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from July 12 drawing

12-21-39-46-48, Bonus: 02

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

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Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your prize

  • Prizes of $100 or less: Can be claimed at any South Dakota Lottery retailer.
  • Prizes of $101 or more: Must be claimed from the Lottery. By mail, send a claim form and a signed winning ticket to the Lottery at 711 E. Wells Avenue, Pierre, SD 57501.
  • Any jackpot-winning ticket for Dakota Cash or Lotto America, top prize-winning ticket for Lucky for Life, or for the second prizes for Powerball and Mega Millions must be presented in person at a Lottery office. A jackpot-winning Powerball or Mega Millions ticket must be presented in person at the Lottery office in Pierre.

When are the South Dakota Lottery drawings held?

  • Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 10 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Lucky for Life: 9:38 p.m. CT daily.
  • Lotto America: 9:15 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Dakota Cash: 9 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Millionaire for Life: 10:15 p.m. CT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a South Dakota editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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Incarcerated women to move into new Rapid City prison to alleviate overcrowding

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Incarcerated women to move into new Rapid City prison to alleviate overcrowding


RAAPID CITY, S.D. — Incarcerated women will start moving into a new $87 million prison in Rapid City next month, a South Dakota Department of Corrections spokesperson confirmed this week.

The medium-security prison will be the state’s second for women. The South Dakota Women’s Prison in Pierre has operated beyond its capacity for years, with dozens of people serving their sentences at the Hughes County Jail or in halfway house facilities.

The new prison in Rapid City, which was approved by state lawmakers

in 2023

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, will add 288 beds to the state’s capacity. The Department of Corrections will begin transferring women there next month, according to spokesperson Michael Winder, who said the exact date of full operations won’t be released for security reasons

The prison includes a work release area, a mother-infant building that lets new moms stay in a home-like environment with their babies, a vocational training facility to be staffed by instructors from Western Dakota Technical Institute and 96 beds for chemical dependency treatment.

The majority of the women held in South Dakota prisons are incarcerated on nonviolent drug charges, and 97% have a substance use disorder diagnosis.

“Drug addiction is a disease that must be treated,” Corrections Secretary Nick Lamb said at Friday’s ribbon cutting, adding that “Through dedicated treatment space and the therapeutic community, women will receive the counseling support and skills that they need to break the cycle of addiction and successfully return to their families and communities.”

The mother-infant program

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mirrors one launched a few years ago in Pierre

.

Mothers who qualify under security guidelines stay in a group home separate from the main prison facility with other women and children for the first few years of their child’s life. The program was launched by former Corrections Secretary Kellie Wasko and was championed by Lamb in his first public conversations with lawmakers on the state’s budget committee during the 2026 legislative session.

From left, South Dakota Corrections Secretary Nick Lamb, Warden Eric Aldridge and Gov. Larry Rhoden cut a razor wire at an event to mark the completion of an $87 million women’s prison in Rapid City.

Photo courtesy Gov. Larry Rhoden’s office

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At Friday’s event, Gov. Larry Rhoden said family connections and parenting skills are key factors in rehabilitation. He framed the program as an extension of a commitment to the well-being of South Dakota families.

“This program gives mothers and their children the opportunity to build that foundation from the very beginning,” Rhoden said.

Rhoden also called out the vocational training, drug treatment and work release programs as vital to rehabilitation — and to public safety by extension. The state recently broke ground on a new $650 million men’s prison in Sioux Falls, which is set to replace the state penitentiary and is also designed to expand programming and rehabilitation.

When combined with pending policy recommendations from the state’s correctional rehabilitation task force, Rhoden said, the new prisons will help improve public safety statewide by reducing the number of people who return to prison within a few years of their release.

“At the end of the day, every person in our corrections system is a human being,” Rhoden said. “They are sons and daughters. They are mothers and fathers. People who’ve made mistakes but also have the capacity to change.”

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Winder, the corrections spokesman, told South Dakota Searchlight that staff will spend the next few weeks training at the new facility in preparation for the arrival of inmates in August.

The state hired Eric Aldridge

to serve as warden in March

. Aldridge, who came to South Dakota after a stint as warden of a medium-security women’s prison in Troy, Virginia, said Friday his goal is to “to facilitate an environment, an atmosphere, a culture where people learn, they grow, they heal, and where people develop through dignity and respect.”





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