How does government work in South Dakota?

What may surprise you here

• South Dakota counts legislative term limits chamber by chamber: no more than eight consecutive years in the Senate and eight consecutive years in the House. source
• South Dakota has no intermediate appellate court; the constitution describes a unified system of a Supreme Court, circuit courts, and courts of limited jurisdiction. source
• The Democratic primary is open to independents, while the Republican primary is limited to registered Republicans. source

Legislature

Name

Legislature source

Senate: seats

35 source

Senate: term in years

2 source

House of Representatives: seats

70 source

House of Representatives: term in years

2 source

Term limits

Four consecutive terms (eight consecutive years) in each chamber source

Structure set by: S.D. Const. art. III, §§ 1, 6.

Governor and statewide offices

Term in years

4 source

Term limit

Two consecutive terms source

Next regular election

2030 source

Lieutenant governor

joint ticket source

Attorney general

elected source

Attorney general’s term in years

4 source

Secretary of state

elected source

Secretary of state’s term in years

4 source

Courts

Highest court

Supreme Court source

Intermediate appeals court

None source

Main trial court

Circuit Court source

How high-court judges reach the bench

mixed: circuit judges by nonpartisan election; Supreme Court justices appointed, then retention votes source

Local government

Called

county source

How many

66 source

Cities and towns

South Dakota has 310 municipal governments and 897 township governments, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source

Schools

All 149 of the state’s school systems are independent school districts, according to the Census Bureau’s 2022 count. source

Elections

Chief election official

Secretary of State source

Who runs elections locally

county auditors source

Primary type

partially closed source

Regular governor elections fall in

even source

Citizen initiatives

yes source

Who holds these offices

As of November 5, 2026. Terms of the current Congress run to January 3, 2027. Winners of the November 3, 2026 elections are not shown until results are certified and they take office.

Governor: Larry Rhoden RRepublican, in office since January 25, 2025. source

Who has held each Senate seat since 2001

Each band is one person in the seat. The line marks November 2026; anything to its right is the rest of a current term. Dates through 2026 come from the congress-legislators public dataset, whose current members are matched against the Senate’s own roster on every build.

Sources