{
 "topic": "senate",
 "site": "electiondata.dev",
 "place": {
  "id": "us-sd",
  "name": "South Dakota",
  "level": "us-state",
  "parent": "usa",
  "path": "us/sd",
  "slug": "sd",
  "state": "sd",
  "state_name": "South Dakota",
  "state_id": "us-sd"
 },
 "question": "How did South Dakota vote for the Senate?",
 "answer": {
  "verdict": "John R. Thune (Republican) won by 43.5 points",
  "value": 43.5,
  "unit": " pts",
  "digits": 1,
  "label": "Senate, 2022: winner's margin",
  "lines": [
   "John R. Thune (Republican) 69.6%, Brian L. Bengs (Democrat) 26.1%, Tamara J. Lesnar (Libertarian) 4.2%",
   "348,020 votes for Senate candidates"
  ]
 },
 "as_of": "2022",
 "as_of_label": "2022",
 "charts": [
  {
   "id": "senate-margin",
   "title": "Every regular Senate election in South Dakota since 1978",
   "description": "16 regular elections; Democrats were ahead in 6 and Republicans in 10.",
   "indicator": "Democratic candidate's share of Senate votes minus the Republican's, points (regular elections; special elections are in the table)",
   "subtitle": "Democratic share minus Republican share, in points. Above the line: the Democrat got more votes.",
   "x": {
    "kind": "year"
   },
   "y": {
    "digits": 1,
    "unit": " pts",
    "format": "party-margin"
   },
   "layers": [
    {
     "type": "bars",
     "name": "Margin",
     "base": 0,
     "points": [
      [
       1978,
       -33.672,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1980,
       -18.804,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1984,
       -48.98,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1986,
       3.206,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1990,
       -7.319,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       1992,
       32.395,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1996,
       2.644,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       1998,
       25.734,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2002,
       0.158,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2004,
       -1.152,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2008,
       24.984,
       "dem"
      ],
      [
       2010,
       -100,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2014,
       -20.859,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2016,
       -43.656,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2020,
       -31.47,
       "rep"
      ],
      [
       2022,
       -43.477,
       "rep"
      ]
     ],
     "legend": [
      {
       "label": "Democrat ahead",
       "cls": "dem"
      },
      {
       "label": "Republican ahead",
       "cls": "rep"
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "limits": [
  "Statewide totals say nothing about who voted or why.",
  "Candidates with a party's support under another name (Minnesota's DFL, New York's fusion lines) are counted with that party, as the MIT data's simplified party does; independents stay independents."
 ],
 "method": "Each candidate's votes are summed over every ballot line; blank, over- and under-votes are left out. The margin is the winner's share of the votes minus the runner-up's. A runoff, where held, is the result.",
 "sources": [
  {
   "name": "electiondata.dev senate-results, version 2026-10-25.247421eda6",
   "url": "https://electiondata.dev/",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  },
  {
   "name": "MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. Senate statewide 1976-2024",
   "url": "https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PEJ5QU",
   "license": "CC0 1.0"
  }
 ],
 "check": {
  "races": [
   {
    "year": 1978,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 255599,
    "votes": {
     "Larry Pressler": 170832,
     "Don Barnett": 84767
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1980,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 327478,
    "votes": {
     "James Abdnor": 190594,
     "George Mcgovern": 129018,
     "Wayne Peterson": 7866
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1984,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 315713,
    "votes": {
     "Larry Pressler": 235176,
     "George V. Cunningham": 80537
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1986,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 295830,
    "votes": {
     "Thomas A. Daschle": 152657,
     "James Abdnor": 143173
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1990,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 258976,
    "votes": {
     "Larry Pressler": 135682,
     "Ted Muenster": 116727,
     "Dean L. Sinclair": 6567
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1992,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 334495,
    "votes": {
     "Thomas A. Daschle": 217095,
     "Charlene Haar": 108733,
     "Gus Hercules": 4353,
     "Kent Hyde": 4314
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1996,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 324487,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Johnson": 166533,
     "Larry Pressler": 157954
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 1998,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 262111,
    "votes": {
     "Tom Daschle": 162884,
     "Ron Schmidt": 95431,
     "Byron Dale": 3796
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2002,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 337501,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Johnson": 167481,
     "John Thune": 166949,
     "Kurt Evans": 3071
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2004,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 391188,
    "votes": {
     "John Thune": 197848,
     "Tom Daschle": 193340
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2008,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 380673,
    "votes": {
     "Tim Johnson": 237889,
     "Joel Dykstra": 142784
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2010,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 227947,
    "votes": {
     "John Thune": 227947
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2014,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 279412,
    "votes": {
     "Mike Rounds": 140741,
     "Rick Weiland": 82456,
     "Larry Pressler": 47741,
     "Gordon Howie": 8474
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2016,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 369656,
    "votes": {
     "John R. Thune": 265516,
     "Jay Williams": 104140
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2020,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 420219,
    "votes": {
     "Mike Rounds": 276232,
     "Dan Ahlers": 143987
    }
   },
   {
    "year": 2022,
    "special": false,
    "runoff": false,
    "total": 348020,
    "votes": {
     "John R. Thune": 242316,
     "Brian L. Bengs": 91007,
     "Tamara J. Lesnar": 14697
    }
   }
  ],
  "dataset": "senate-results",
  "version": "2026-10-25.247421eda6"
 },
 "table": {
  "title": "Every Senate race since 1976",
  "columns": [
   "Race",
   "Winner",
   "Runner-up",
   "Margin",
   "Votes"
  ],
  "num": [
   3,
   4
  ],
  "rows": [
   [
    "2022",
    "John R. Thune (R) 69.6%",
    "Brian L. Bengs (D) 26.1%",
    "43.5 pts",
    "348,020"
   ],
   [
    "2020",
    "Mike Rounds (R) 65.7%",
    "Dan Ahlers (D) 34.3%",
    "31.5 pts",
    "420,219"
   ],
   [
    "2016",
    "John R. Thune (R) 71.8%",
    "Jay Williams (D) 28.2%",
    "43.7 pts",
    "369,656"
   ],
   [
    "2014",
    "Mike Rounds (R) 50.4%",
    "Rick Weiland (D) 29.5%",
    "20.9 pts",
    "279,412"
   ],
   [
    "2010",
    "John Thune (R) 100.0%",
    "unopposed",
    "100.0 pts",
    "227,947"
   ],
   [
    "2008",
    "Tim Johnson (D) 62.5%",
    "Joel Dykstra (R) 37.5%",
    "25.0 pts",
    "380,673"
   ],
   [
    "2004",
    "John Thune (R) 50.6%",
    "Tom Daschle (D) 49.4%",
    "1.2 pts",
    "391,188"
   ],
   [
    "2002",
    "Tim Johnson (D) 49.6%",
    "John Thune (R) 49.5%",
    "0.2 pts",
    "337,501"
   ],
   [
    "1998",
    "Tom Daschle (D) 62.1%",
    "Ron Schmidt (R) 36.4%",
    "25.7 pts",
    "262,111"
   ],
   [
    "1996",
    "Tim Johnson (D) 51.3%",
    "Larry Pressler (R) 48.7%",
    "2.6 pts",
    "324,487"
   ],
   [
    "1992",
    "Thomas A. Daschle (D) 64.9%",
    "Charlene Haar (R) 32.5%",
    "32.4 pts",
    "334,495"
   ],
   [
    "1990",
    "Larry Pressler (R) 52.4%",
    "Ted Muenster (D) 45.1%",
    "7.3 pts",
    "258,976"
   ],
   [
    "1986",
    "Thomas A. Daschle (D) 51.6%",
    "James Abdnor (R) 48.4%",
    "3.2 pts",
    "295,830"
   ],
   [
    "1984",
    "Larry Pressler (R) 74.5%",
    "George V. Cunningham (D) 25.5%",
    "49.0 pts",
    "315,713"
   ],
   [
    "1980",
    "James Abdnor (R) 58.2%",
    "George Mcgovern (D) 39.4%",
    "18.8 pts",
    "327,478"
   ],
   [
    "1978",
    "Larry Pressler (R) 66.8%",
    "Don Barnett (D) 33.2%",
    "33.7 pts",
    "255,599"
   ]
  ]
 },
 "api": {
  "now": "/data/places/us-sd/senate.json",
  "source": "https://api.electiondata.dev/v1/senate-results/download/senate-results.csv",
  "source_label": "Every Senate race, every state, from electiondata.dev (live, no key)"
 },
 "generated_at": "2026-10-26T20:05:12+00:00"
}