Toby Doeden Represents Needed Change for South Dakota

After supporting Jon Hansen in the primaries, I am urging South Dakotans to vote for Toby Doeden in the Republican Gubernatorial Runoff Election

Earlier this month, Jon Hansen lost the governor’s race. I thought Jon was the best candidate and one of my close friends, which is why I devoted as much personal time and efforts to his campaign as I did.

But the reality we live in now is that South Dakotans will have two choices on July 28th in their first ever runoff election for governor, Toby Doeden or incumbent Larry Rhoden.

I like both men quite a lot, contrary to many of my friends. Larry Rhoden is a wonderful person with a particularly great family. He is someone who cares deeply about South Dakota, and the state is better for his service–particularly considering the mess he was left with. He is a straight shooter, kind, and treats people with respect. This is apparent to most anyone I know who has ever spent time around him.

Toby is no different in this regard to me. Toby and I spoke on the phone for about 45 minutes a year ago, because he had heard through the grapevine that my dog was sick with what ended up being a terminal condition–which he was diagnosed with while I was on active duty. Toby offered, and I took him to be extremely serious, to fly his private jet to my family and dog so he could be taken to the specialized treatment he needed in Colorado. Contrary to the persona that, unfortunately comes across sometimes, Toby is a caring and warm person–who also has a great family.

I describe what I have above because in states like South Dakota, we want to know that the guy we are voting for is likeable. I regret to inform you I think they both are, personally.

But elections are also often a choice of the “lesser of two evils.” Politically, Toby Doeden is the easy choice to make in this regard for conservatives, and it’s why I am supporting his candidacy.

This race carries consequences that extend far beyond the governor’s office itself. South Dakota conservatives find themselves at an inflection point, and the next governor will either serve as a bulwark against a drifting political tide or accelerate it.

The State Legislature is going to be more liberal next year than it has been in recent history, if you are to consider the 2026 primary election results. The Legislature being this way makes it clear that the state’s chief executive cannot be a passive participant in state politics, he must be active. If Toby Doeden is not that person next year, I feel confident in saying that South Dakota can say goodbye to its political convention process (which opens up corporate money pouring into races with limited prospects for fundraising), hello to more power for the bureaucracy and the ‘economic development’ machine, and should be seriously concerned about the future of landowner rights that so many have devoted years of efforts towards. Toby Doeden represents the kind of executive backstop that can check that drift—someone who will not be managed by the lobbyists, and who will use the veto pen and the bully pulpit without apology when the moment demands it. And I predict it will demand it often and regularly.

At the federal level, South Dakotans deserve a governor who will make clear to Washington that our state, and country by extension, expects results—not managed decline. Senator John Thune carries significant responsibility as Majority Leader, and with that comes an expectation. The Save America Act and the broader America First legislative agenda are not aspirational talking points, they are the mandate American voters delivered. I believe that Governor Doeden would be the most helpful resource we have in holding Senator Thune accountable, publicly and unflinchingly.

People who supported Jon over Toby will say that the attacks are too much for them to stomach a vote for Toby. As the person who argued more forcefully than anyone for the hardest-hitting, most scorched-earth response to these during the campaign, I understand that sentiment.

The reality, however, is that negative campaigning exists because it works. Voters say they hate attack ads—and most genuinely do—but campaigns continue to use them because elections are ultimately zero-sum contests. There is only one winner (unless you have a 35% runoff threshold I guess, then there are two). Voters make decisions they would often not admit based on negative ads.

That does not mean any of the attacks were fair or beneficial to anyone or anything. It does mean that campaigns bring out the sharpest edges of politics, and once the votes are counted, the question becomes whether those divisions remain permanent or whether people make a genuine effort to move forward.

In the days since the election, it has been clear to me that Toby and his immediate team understands the need to bring people back together. Whether one supported any of the four candidates, that phase is over. The test of leadership now is reconciliation, and it appears to me that Toby is making a sincere effort to reach out, build bridges, and unite a coalition that was deeply divided only a few days ago.

But there is a fundamental, gut level reason I am supporting Toby–and it’s one I believe I share with many South Dakotans and what propelled him to his first place finish in the primary, and why I predicted he would win well over a year ago.

During my years around South Dakota politics, I grew increasingly convinced that too much of Pierre has long operated in a fashion similar to how one of my favorites, Huey Long, once described: “they’ve got a set of Republican waiters on one side and a set of Democratic waiters on the other side, but no matter which set of waiters brings you the dish, the legislative grub is all prepared in the same kitchen.” There are simply too many instances of financial mismanagement or outright scandal (Steve Westra getting a job at CJ Schwan’s, the fraud that rankled the state Department of Revenue and their attempt to cover it up, the state One Stops, many things to do with the Future Fund, and all corresponding attempts to stop accountability on these and similar matters by the executive branch) in recent state history for me to believe that the South Dakota state government and its bureaucracy deserves anything other than a nice dose of Toby Doeden, and he has given me his word he will take this on. Supporting anything other than efforts that resemble an attempt to upend this system is a betrayal of the work I attempted to do over the years to open state government up to common folks. And though much of this predates Larry, nor do I think it is his fault, I do not think he represents adequately what properly stopping it will entail.

South Dakota conservatives have long had this election circled as an opportunity to move the state meaningfully in their direction, creating a more transparent, freer, and more prosperous state. Though Toby Doeden may not be the person I or we had in mind for this initially, I firmly believe he is the man for this moment. That is why I am supporting him, and hope you will too.