2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota explained

See also: 2020 United States Senate elections.

Election Name:	2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota
Country:	South Dakota
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	2014 United States Senate election in South Dakota
Previous Year:	2014
Next Election:	2026 United States Senate election in South Dakota
Next Year:	2026
Election Date:	November 3, 2020
Image1:	Mike Rounds official Senate portrait (cropped).jpg
Nominee1:	Mike Rounds
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:	276,232
Percentage1:	65.74%
Nominee2:	Dan Ahlers
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:	143,987
Percentage2:	34.26%
Map Size:	240px
U.S. Senator
Before Election:	Mike Rounds
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Mike Rounds
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)

The 2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of South Dakota, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator Mike Rounds was reelected to a second term in office, overperforming Donald Trump in the concurrent presidential election by 4.93 points.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Mike Rounds, incumbent U.S. senator^[1]

Eliminated in primary

• Scyller Borglum, state representative^[2]

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

• Daniel Ahlers, former state representative and former state senator^[3]

Did not qualify

• Clara Hart, board member of the Sioux Falls Arts Council^[4]

Declined

• Erin Healy, state representative^[5]
• Brendan Johnson, former United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota^[6]
• Billie Sutton, former minority leader of the South Dakota Senate and nominee for Governor of South Dakota in 2018^[7]
• Susan Wismer, state senator and Democratic nominee for Governor of South Dakota in 2014^[5]

Independents

Candidates

Withdrew

• Clayton Walker, independent candidate in the 2014 United States Senate election in South Dakota and Democratic candidate in the 2010 South Dakota House of Representatives elections^[8]

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
align=left	The Cook Political Report^[9]		October 29, 2020
align=left	Inside Elections^[10]		October 28, 2020
align=left	Sabato's Crystal Ball^[11]		November 2, 2020
Daily Kos^[12]		October 30, 2020
Politico^[13]		November 2, 2020
RCP^[14]		October 23, 2020
DDHQ^[15]		November 3, 2020
538^[16]		November 2, 2020
Economist^[17]		November 2, 2020

Results

County	Mike Rounds Republican		Daniel Ahlers Democratic		Margin		Total votes
	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"			data-sort-type="number"	%	data-sort-type="number"		data-sort-type="number"	%
	Aurora		1,002		71.32		403		28.68		599		42.63		1,405
	Beadle		5,104		71.99		1,986		28.01		3,118		43.98		7,090
	Bennett		729		62.52		437		37.48		292		25.04		1,166
	Bon Homme		2,156		72.11		834		27.89		1,322		44.21		2,990
	Brookings		8,792		60.48		5,746		39.52		3,046		20.95		14,538
	Brown		11,168		64.00		6,283		36.00		4,885		27.99		17,451
	Brule		1,735		69.65		756		30.35		979		39.30		2,491
	Buffalo		223		40.92		322		59.08		-99		-18.16		545
	Butte		3,809		79.85		961		20.15		2,848		59.71		4,770
	Campbell		745		85.93		122		14.07		623		71.86		867
	Charles Mix		2,542		66.88		1,259		33.12		1,283		33.75		3,801
	Clark		1,397		75.64		450		24.36		947		51.27		1,847
	Clay		2,857		50.44		2,807		49.56		50		0.88		5,664
	Codington		9,479		72.33		3,626		27.67		5,853		44.66		13,105
	Corson		681		53.88		583		46.12		98		7.75		1,264
	Custer		3,973		72.82		1,483		27.18		2,490		45.64		5,456
	Davison		5,893		69.88		2,540		30.12		3,353		39.76		8,433
	Day		1,895		63.93		1,069		36.07		826		27.87		2,964
	Deuel		1,714		73.18		628		26.81		1,086		46.37		2,342
	Dewey		884		45.43		1,062		54.57		-178		-9.15		1,946
	Douglas		1,469		86.21		235		13.79		1,234		72.42		1,704
	Edmunds		1,539		77.45		448		22.55		1,091		54.91		1,987
	Fall River		3,009		75.19		993		24.81		2,016		50.37		4,002
	Faulk		975		82.07		213		17.93		762		64.14		1,188
	Grant		2,723		72.63		1,026		27.37		1,697		45.26		3,749
	Gregory		1,766		78.35		488		21.65		1,278		56.70		2,254
	Haakon		1,032		90.69		106		9.31		926		81.37		1,138
	Hamlin		2,413		78.60		657		21.40		1,756		57.20		3,070
	Hand		1,480		79.66		378		20.34		1,102		59.31		1,858
	Hanson		1,796		76.10		564		23.90		1,232		52.20		2,360
	Harding		727		90.87		73		9.13		654		81.75		800
	Hughes		6,217		70.95		2,546		29.05		3,671		41.89		8,763
	Hutchinson		2,982		79.44		772		20.56		2,210		58.87		3,754
	Hyde		568		79.89		143		20.11		425		59.78		711
	Jackson		756		67.92		357		32.08		399		35.85		1,113
	Jerauld		720		72.22		277		27.78		443		44.43		997
	Jones		497		83.39		99		16.61		398		66.78		596
	Kingsbury		1,970		70.89		809		29.11		1,161		41.78		2,779
	Lake		3,816		64.84		2,069		35.16		1,747		29.69		5,885
	Lawrence		9,385		68.29		4,358		31.71		5,027		36.58		13,743
	Lincoln		21,221		65.83		11,013		34.17		10,208		31.67		32,234
	Lyman		1,066		66.67		533		33.33		533		33.33		1,599
	Marshall		1,334		61.00		853		39.00		481		22.00		2,187
	McCook		2,072		71.28		835		28.72		1,237		42.55		2,907
	McPherson		1,086		82.21		235		17.79		851		64.42		1,321
	Meade		10,355		76.53		3,176		23.47		7,179		53.06		13,531
	Mellette		468		60.70		303		39.30		165		21.40		771
	Miner		807		70.42		339		29.58		468		40.84		1,146
	Minnehaha		52,773		57.63		38,799		42.37		13,974		15.26		91,572
	Moody		1,877		58.29		1,343		41.71		534		16.58		3,220
	Oglala Lakota		510		15.93		2,691		84.07		-2,181		-68.14		3,201
	Pennington		37,694		66.27		19,184		33.73		18,510		32.54		56,878
	Perkins		1,395		84.85		249		15.15		1,146		69.71		1,644
	Potter		1,160		83.82		224		16.18		936		67.63		1,384
	Roberts		2,529		58.87		1,767		41.13		762		17.74		4,296
	Sanborn		898		76.17		281		23.83		617		52.33		1,179
	Spink		2,178		68.84		986		31.16		1,192		37.67		3,164
	Stanley		1,274		77.12		378		22.88		896		54.24		1,652
	Sully		759		81.88		168		18.12		591		63.75		927
	Todd		706		28.22		1,796		71.78		-1,090		-43.56		2,502
	Tripp		2,188		81.34		502		18.66		1,686		62.68		2,690
	Turner		3,416		75.21		1,126		24.79		2,290		50.42		4,542
	Union		6,364		72.56		2,407		27.44		3,957		45.12		8,771
	Walworth		2,040		79.53		525		20.47		1,515		59.06		2,565
	Yankton		6,994		64.51		3,848		35.49		3,146		29.02		10,842
	Ziebach		450		49.56		458		50.44		-8		-0.88		908
Totals	276,232	65.74	143,987	34.26	132,245	31.47	420,219

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Clay (largest municipality: Vermillion)
• Day (largest municipality: Webster)
• Marshall (largest municipality: Britton)
• Mellette (largest municipality: White River)
• Roberts (largest municipality: Sisseton)

External links

• • • Web site: League of Women Voters of South Dakota . (State affiliate of the U.S. League of Women Voters)

Official campaign websites

• Daniel Ahlers (D) for Senate
• Mike Rounds (R) for Senate
• Clayton Walker (I) for Senate

Notes and References

1. https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/16/sen-mike-rounds-rep-dusty-johnson-report-2020-fundraising/3482791002/ Rounds, Johnson gearing up for 2020
2. News: Kaczke. Lisa. Scyller Borglum, Republican legislator from Rapid City, announces U.S. Senate candidacy. Argus Leader. July 1, 2019. July 1, 2019.
3. Web site: Democrat Ahlers to challenge for Senate seat. KELO Newstalk 1320 107.9. 2019-09-26.
4. Web site: Clara Hart of Sioux Falls announces Democratic candidacy for U.S. Senate. Kaczke. Lisa. Argus Leader. November 9, 2019. December 6, 2019.
5. Web site: Singiser . Steve . Here's our ultimate Democratic wishlist for Senate in 2020. Who's on yours? . Daily Kos . 19 February 2019.
6. News: Potential Thune Challenger Bows Out . https://web.archive.org/web/20150321030405/http://atr.rollcall.com/brendan-johnson-thune-not-running/ . dead . March 21, 2015 . . Levinson . Alexis . March 18, 2015 . October 11, 2018 . It’s certainly something that I would consider in the future, .
7. Web site: Billie Sutton still plans to serve South Dakota in some capacity. KSFY. www.ksfy.com. November 7, 2018 . en. 2019-09-03.
8. Web site: May 17, 2020 . SOUTH DAKOTA. Politics1 .
9. Web site: 2020 Senate Race Ratings for October 29, 2020 . The Cook Political Report . March 11, 2021.
10. Web site: 2020 Senate Ratings . Senate Ratings . The Rothenberg Political Report . March 11, 2021.
11. Web site: 2020 Senate race ratings . Sabato's Crystal Ball . March 12, 2021.
12. Web site: 2020 Senate Race Ratings . Daily Kos Elections. March 13, 2021.
13. Web site: 2020 Election Forecast. November 19, 2019 . Politico.
14. Web site: Battle for the Senate 2020. October 23, 2020 . RCP.
15. Web site: September 2, 2020 . 2020 Senate Elections Model. September 2, 2020 . Decision Desk HQ.
16. Web site: Silver . Nate . Forecasting the race for the Senate . . September 18, 2020 . September 18, 2020.
17. Web site: November 2, 2020 . Forecasting the US elections . March 13, 2021 . The Economist.