South Dakota: who should earn your vote for Congress in 2026
Opinion · The paper’s scorecard
South Dakota: every race for Congress on the 3 November 2026 ballot, and how the candidates measure up against our standards.
Sitting and former members are scored on the same key votes, read from the official House and Senate roll calls; each vote links to the record. Candidates who have never served in Congress have no votes to score, and outside the battlegrounds we have not researched them, so they are marked as not scored. Where only one candidate could be measured, the mark rates that record on its own; it is not a verdict on the opponent. How the marks work · All states
U.S. Senate R+15
✓ Meets our standards: Mike Rounds
Brian Bengs
Independent
No congressional voting record; not scored
Meets our standards
Mike Rounds
Republican · incumbent
Scored on 24 key votes · total +2
- ✓Smaller government
- ✓Small business over giants
- ✗Live and let live
- ✓Light touch on tech
- ✗Free speech
- ✗No surveillance state
- ✗Home first, open trade
- ✓Checks on power
- ✓Right to bear arms
- ✓Hard on violent crime
With us (11)
At-large district R+15
No mark
Dusty Johnson (R): incumbent retiring to run for governor.
Nikki Gronli
Democrat
No congressional voting record; not scored
Marty Jackley
Republican
No congressional voting record; not scored
Photo credits. Official congressional portraits are works of the U.S. government and in the public domain.