South Dakota
Toby Doeden, conservative Aberdeen businessman, files for South Dakota governor
A second expected entrant to South Dakota’s distant gubernatorial race has filed with the state.
Aberdeen businessman and conservative activist Toby Doeden filed a statement of organization for “Toby Doeden for South Dakota,” a statewide gubernatorial candidate committee established on May 22, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s website.
Doeden has scheduled an event at 5 p.m. CDT, May 28, at Wylie Park Pavilion in Aberdeen. He is expected to publicly announce his campaign for the governor nomination there.
Jessica Post, general manager of 5-Star Management LLC, an Aberdeen property management company, is listed as committee treasurer. Doeden is the president of Doeden Investment Group, an investment firm, which includes Post on its staff page.
Doeden is the chair of Dakota First Action, a statewide political action committee that boosted populist and anti-carbon pipeline candidates into the state legislature in 2024.
Doeden has never held a political office, and he refers to himself as a “successful businessman, a bold conservative, and a dedicated family man” on his website.
Politically, Doeden presents a conservative option that aligns with President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies and sits farther to the right than other prominent South Dakota’s Republicans, like Gov. Larry Rhoden and U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, both of whom are anticipated to run for governor but have yet to publicly announce campaigns.
Doeden would be the second to enter South Dakota’s contest for the job after state House Speaker Jon Hansen, who announced his run for governor along with Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems as lieutenant governor in April.
Doeden’s PAC entered hot water with the state’s Republican establishment in October 2024 when he refused to cancel a speaking engagement with then-Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of North Carolina at Dakota First Action gala event. Robinson was accused of writing several controversial statements on an online board in the 2000s, including calling himself a “black NAZI,” CNN reporting.
Robinson later dropped the speaking engagement of his own accord and provided a pre-recorded video in order to assist in North Carolina’s disaster response following 2024’s Hurricane Helene. He later dropped a lawsuit against the network for its reporting.
South Dakota
Republican businessman Toby Doeden advances to primary runoff in South Dakota governor’s race
Republican businessman Toby Doeden has advanced to a runoff in South Dakota governor’s race, NBC News projects.
Gov. Larry Rhoden, who replaced Kristi Noem last year when President Donald Trump nominated her to lead the Department of Homeland Security, was battling with Rep. Dusty Johnson and former state House Speaker Jon Hansen for a second spot in the July 28 runoff. The primary will go to a runoff because no candidate eclipsed 35% of the vote.
Trump did not issue an endorsement in the race. Doeden branded himself on his campaign website as “a total political outsider who’s tired of the government’s failure to deliver on its promises” and one of Trump’s “fiercest supporters.”
Rhoden, a former lieutenant governor, agriculture secretary and lawmaker, campaigned on property tax cuts and lowering crime in his bid for a four-year term.
Johnson is the state’s lone representative in the House, where he previously was chair of the Republican Main Street Caucus. Hansen, who was elected to the South Dakota House in 2010, held several leadership positions before he became speaker.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite to win the general election in the solidly red state this fall. A Democrat has not served as governor in South Dakota since the 1970s, and Trump carried the state by 29 points in 2024.
News
Agronomist: eastern South Dakota crops hit and miss
An agronomist in eastern South Dakota says corn and soybeans are hit and miss as the growing season begins.
Steven Zemlicka with AgTegra Cooperative tells Brownfield, “We’ve got corn anywhere from V1 all the way up to V4. Biggest stuff’s maybe touching V5. Corn’s coming right along, looks pretty good. A little bit of hail here too, but I don’t think it’s going to be much of an issue. Stands for the most part are pretty good, pretty solid.”
Zemlicka says soybean emergence has been slow due to the wet, cool conditions, and there are a few fields that still need planted.
“People were still working on planting soybeans when we got the recent rain.”
He says recent rain totals ranged from a half inch to as much as four inches in the northeast part of South Dakota; the southern part of the state has been drier.
South Dakota’s corn is rated 61 percent good to excellent, with soybean conditions rated 57 percent good to excellent, according to USDA’s first condition ratings of the season.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The South Dakota Community Foundation is encouraging nonprofits to apply for funding this June.
Beth Massa and Ginger Niemann joined us live with what you need to know before applying.
Watch the full interview above.
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