In Brief:
- With Kristi Noem appointed to a cabinet position, Larry Rhoden is set to replace her as South Dakota’s new governor.
- Rhoden is a conservative Republican, but faces a legislature filled with lots of new members who are further to the right.
- He also inherits a challenging budget environment, with tax revenues slowing and the state facing some major new expenses.
With Kristi Noem leaving for Washington, Larry Rhoden will be taking over as South Dakota’s new governor. Rhoden is currently the state’s lieutenant governor and he’ll assume the top spot early next year, assuming Noem is confirmed as secretary of homeland security.
Rhoden, a longtime former legislator, is a 65-year-old rancher and custom welder from the less populous region of the state lying west of the Missouri River. In this overwhelmingly Republican state, the main political factions are within the GOP itself. Rhoden is considered a fiscal conservative who will be facing a legislature filled with many new members, a number of whom are from the far right end of the political spectrum.
Rhoden served as Noem’s agriculture ambassador, a role that saw him lead trade delegations overseas, and he also filled a vacancy as interim agriculture secretary. “West River, South Dakota, is a very strong ranching community, very independent people,” says state House Speaker Hugh Bartels. “He fits right into that mold. He wears a cowboy hat and rides a mean horse and can crack a bullwhip.”
Bartels emphasizes that Rhoden’s main differences with Noem may be temperamental. She has consistently sought the national spotlight, where Rhoden is expected to keep his attention strictly focused on South Dakota. “He'll have a different approach than Gov. Noem, who's probably been tempered or maybe hardened by D.C. [and] knows how to move in that element," Bartels says. "He's going to be very straightforward and want to move things along.”
Rhoden’s main challenge will be the budget, with the state facing increased costs for colleges and criminal justice even as its sales tax revenue is slowing down. “Most of the legislators that are in the Legislature have never experienced a bad budget time,” Bartels says. “Very few people in the current Legislature are going to know [what to do in] tight budget years.”
New Faces in the Legislature
About 40 percent of the members of both the House and Senate will be new when the Legislature convenes in January. An unusually high portion of incumbents were ousted in recent elections and some term-limited legislators stepped down rather than run for a seat in the other chamber.
Republicans will continue to hold their supermajorities, and now far-right members hold a majority, Bartels says.
Rhoden clocked a cumulative 15 years between the House and Senate, after first becoming a representative in 2001. He’s served as lieutenant governor since 2019. Bartels served alongside Rhoden in the House for four years, where Rhoden “worked pretty well” with the different groups there.
As lieutenant governor, Rhoden at times has “been a little bit of the governor's heavyweight with some people that they didn't get along with,” Bartels says.
Tighter Budget Environment
After enjoying a budget surplus for the past few years, sales taxes, which are the state’s main source of revenue, are coming in below projections. Confronting the budget will likely be Rhoden’s biggest challenge, with financial limits constraining what initiatives he can maintain or launch.
He has a record of being opposed to tax increases. When it comes to supporting programs, “It’s not going to be a matter of if it’s a good idea,” says state Rep. Gary Cammack. “It’s a matter of whether the revenue is available to do some of those things.”
For several years, South Dakota has frozen tuition at state colleges, but may not be able to keep that up. Lawmakers have been debating whether to fund vouchers for students to attend private school or pay for homeschooling. That’s a proposition Bartels says could be difficult to afford but which has garnered support among more conservative legislators.
South Dakota has also been setting aside funds to replace the 143-year-old state men’s penitentiary, but is still $200 million short.
“Larry Rhoden will do a good job,” says Jim Bolin, a GOP state senator. “But sometimes the hand you're dealt is not the easiest, and, from an economic standpoint, he will experience a leaner time than Noem has.”
