(From Scott Sundberg, Hub City Radio and Todd Epp, Northern Plains News)
Congressman Dusty Johnson has officially entered the 2026 race for governor of South Dakota. Johnson made his announcement Monday and followed up Wednesday with an appearance on the KSDN Midday Report to outline his plans and policy focus.
Johnson said he waited to announce because he believes campaigns have become too long and drawn out.
“Oh, I haven’t had this date set for a long time. At some point, I was holding off. I know most South Dakotans, like myself, think elections go on or the campaigns go on way too long,” Johnson said. “And so I’ve had an inclination, Scott, that this really mattered to me, that this is what I wanted to do. I love this state. I think the next 20 years in South Dakota can be the best in our history, but that’s not inevitable.
It’s not going to happen by accident. We need a real plan and we need real leadership, and I’m excited to get to work.”
He dismissed suggestions that his timing was influenced by whether Governor Larry Rhoden would seek re-election.
“Oh, no, I haven’t had a timeline set all along, but I also don’t run my race contingent on what anybody else does,” Johnson said. “I mean, I think at some point, if you’ve got the passion, if you’ve got the plan, if you think your skill set’s a good fit for the job, and if you love the state, I’ve never been this guy to look around my shoulder and see what the landscape looks like. I think if you really believe in something, you’ve got to go work hard and get it.”
Johnson said his congressional duties remain a priority even as his campaign begins.
“Well, I don’t, I mean, I don’t know how much is really going to change for me,” Johnson said. “I mean, I still have a job to do for South Dakotans. I just came from the Oval Office meeting with President Trump as he and I and a few others talked about how do we get one big, beautiful bill across the finish line.
So listen, I understand announcing for governor is going to change a few things, but I’ve still got a day job. And I feel like if I do my job, then South Dakotans are going to understand that and appreciate that. I’ve always felt like good policy makes for good politics.”
On the issue of property taxes, Johnson said the responsibility lies with the state.
“No, but the whole regime is set up by the state,” Johnson said. “And I mean, the state controls it, the state’s always managed it, the state tells schools how much they can charge as an upward bound, they tell localities what they can and they can’t do. I mean, the state’s in charge, I mean, at some point if there is a deficiency, that’s something that the state legislature owns, that you have to have a governor willing to throw out specific plans.”
He also emphasized the need for consistent policy while still allowing for local flexibility.
“No, no. I mean, no. The rules of the road, the regime is set up by state government,” Johnson said. “I mean, we don’t have 66 different systems, we’ve got one different system. Now, the system provides flexibility for counties to obviously be in charge of what levies they’ve got and how they spend the money especially, but the rules of the road have always got to be, there needs to be a uniformity there.
I would say the rules of a football game are always the same.
The rules of a basketball game are always the same. Now, obviously, the head coach and the teams, they can run different plays, they have lots of flexibility in how they operate within the rules, but the rules are always, they’re always set.”
Asked about the South Dakota Republican Party’s role in the primary season, Johnson said party neutrality is a matter of fairness and bylaws.
“Well, I mean, Jim Eschenbaum doesn’t work for me,” Johnson said. “I mean, he works for, you know, the Central Committee, and he works for the Republican voters of South Dakota. And they’ve decided that the bylaws say that the state party needs to be neutral in primaries.
Jim has taken that to heart. He understands his marching orders, and he understands also what is fair. I do think Jim has an innate sense of fairness, and I think he’s going to do what he can to honor those bylaws.”
Johnson wrapped up the interview by outlining what he called his “big four” campaign priorities.
“Although you didn’t want to put me under the thumb with regard to talking about policies, I’ll just for 30 seconds run through, you know, the big four,” Johnson said. “We do need to reduce property taxes, but we’ve got to do it responsibly, unlike some have proposed, number one.
Number two, we need safer communities by focusing more on drugs and addiction, new drug interdiction teams, new training and treatment inside prison.
Number three, we have to make college, and especially technical school, technical college, more affordable. Also, within education, we need to be relentlessly focused on student achievement. I think there’s some things we need to be doing.
And then finally, number four, we’ve got to keep those taxes low by growing this economy, and we absolutely can do it with new small businesses, new energy production, dairy expansion, and high-tech jobs coming home to South Dakota.”
