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United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2014

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November 4, 2014 (2014-11-04)
  
2020 →

82,456
  
47,741

29.5%
  
17.1%

140,741
  
82,456

50.4%
  
29.5%

Start date
  
November 4, 2014

United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2014 httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Winner
  
Mike Rounds

United states senate election in south dakota 2014


The 2014 United States Senate election in South Dakota took place on November 4, 2014, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of South Dakota, concurrently with the election of the Governor of South Dakota, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Contents

Incumbent Democratic Senator Tim Johnson decided to retire instead of running for re-election to a fourth term in office.

Businessman Rick Weiland ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, while the Republicans picked former Governor of South Dakota Mike Rounds. Also running were two independent candidates: former Republican U.S. Senator Larry Pressler, who served three terms in the Senate from 1979 to 1997, and former Republican State Senator Gordon Howie.

Declared

  • Rick Weiland, businessman, former staffer for Tom Daschle, nominee for South Dakota's at-large congressional district (SD-AL) in 1996 and candidate for SD-AL in 2002

    • Withdrew

  • Kevin Artz, businessman
  • Henry Jo Sinkie, rancher and resort owner

    • Declined

  • Jason Frerichs, Minority Leader of the South Dakota Senate (running for re-election)
  • Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, former U.S. Representative
  • Brendan Johnson, United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota and son of incumbent Senator Tim Johnson
  • Tim Johnson, incumbent U.S. Senator
  • Pat O'Brien, author, television anchor and radio host
  • Ron J. Volesky, attorney and former State Senator

    • Results

    Weiland faced no opposition in the Democratic primary.

    Declared

  • Annette Bosworth, physician
  • Stace Nelson, State Representative
  • Jason Ravnsborg, attorney
  • Larry Rhoden, Majority Whip of the South Dakota Senate
  • Mike Rounds, former Governor of South Dakota

    • Declined

  • Steve T. Kirby, former Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota and candidate for Governor in 2002
  • William Napoli, former State Senator
  • Kristi Noem, U.S. Representative
  • Mark Venner, former State Representative

    • Declared

  • Gordon Howie (Independent), former Republican State Senator and Republican candidate for Governor in 2010
  • Larry Pressler (Independent), former Republican U.S. Senator

    • Disqualified

  • Clayton Walker (Independent), small business consultant and Democratic candidate for State Representative in 2010

    • Withdrew

  • Kurt Evans (Libertarian), teacher and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2002

    • Campaign

    Rounds was widely seen as the front runner throughout the campaign. However, he faced ongoing criticism on the election trial for his possible involvement with the State's ongoing EB-5 visa investigation, concerning the conflict of interest that Rounds' administration had when administering the EB-5 program. State officials misused funds to pay for their salaries, did not disclose that they owned companies which they gave contracts to, directed money towards companies that went bankrupt and arranged for loans from unknown sources from shell companies located in tax havens. In October 2014, Rounds admitted that he had approved a $1 million state loan to meat-packing company Northern Beef shortly after learning that Secretary of Tourism and State Development Richard Benda had agreed to join the company, with Benda then getting another $600,000 in loans that was ultimately used to pay his own salary. Benda committed suicide in October 2013, days before a possible indictment over embezzlement and grand theft charges.

    Columnist Jonathan Ellis of the Argus Leader called Rounds' fundraising "anemic" compared to the amount of outside money coming in to the state on Weiland's side, and criticized the entire Rounds campaign as "more suited for sheriff of Mayberry County than U.S. Senate."

    Polling

  • * Internal polling for the Mike Rounds campaign
  • ^ Internal polling for the Rick Weiland campaign

    • References

    United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2014 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA