New details are emerging about South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden’s decisive Republican runoff victory last month.
Congressman Dusty Johnson has confirmed that he quietly provided campaign support to Rhoden following Johnson’s own third-place finish in the June gubernatorial primary.
According to Johnson and the Rhoden campaign, Johnson’s political operation supplied field staff, voter data, and campaign resources to assist Rhoden during the eight-week runoff campaign against businessman Toby Doeden.
Johnson says he also encouraged donors and political supporters within his network to back Rhoden, helping direct financial support toward the governor’s campaign.
Rhoden campaign manager Ian Fury credited Johnson’s team with boosting the campaign’s extensive get-out-the-vote effort, which included tens of thousands of door knocks and hundreds of thousands of voter contacts.
Rhoden went on to defeat Doeden by more than 40 percentage points in South Dakota’s first-ever Republican gubernatorial runoff election.
Campaign officials also noted that House Speaker Jon Hansen’s supporters largely broke in favor of Rhoden during the runoff campaign, while Doeden struggled to gain support from voters who had backed Hansen in the primary.
The revelations provide new insight into the political alliances and behind-the-scenes efforts that helped shape one of the most one-sided gubernatorial victories in recent South Dakota history.
