Not only was NFIB celebrating the re-election of NFIB-endorsed candidate U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem and newly elected NFIB member and endorsed candidate Mike Rounds as South Dakota’s next United States Senator, but NFIB also saw multiple victories at the state level with all the NFIB-endorsed candidates prevailing on election night.
NFIB endorsed Gov. Dennis Daugaard in his effort to seek a second term as governor of South Dakota. Governor Daugaard won handily, securing 70 percent of the votes. His win ensures that South Dakota will continue to have a business friendly governor leading the state.
In the Legislature, both the House of Representatives and Senate will continue to have a pro-small-business majority. NFIB endorsed three Senate candidates with all of them prevailing:
- Sen. Tim Rave won easily in his race by securing 68 percent of the votes
- In a closer race, small-business owner Brock Greenfield challenged incumbent Chuck Welke in District 2 and prevailed by a small margin, winning 52.57 percent of the vote, compared to his challenger’s 47.43 percent
- David Novstrup prevailed over Mark Remily in the open seat for District 3, securing 53.12 percent of the votes.
NFIB was equally victorious in the House with four of its endorsed candidates winning:
- In District 13, endorsed Mark Mickelson and Steve Westra won commanding victories, securing 43 percent and 33 percent of the votes respectively
- In District 20, endorsed candidate Tona Rozum won re-election handily, while endorsed candidate and newcomer Joshua Klumb secured the second open seat.
The only defeat on Election Night was on Initiated Measure 18, which will increase the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.50 an hour with additional annual increases tied to the Consumer Price Index.
NFIB joined with other small businesses and agricultural organizations to seek a defeat of this measure. The early polling showed that the proponents of this measure would win overwhelmingly. NFIB and these other groups fought tirelessly to try to turn the tide and saw gains in the waning hours, but unfortunately it was not enough to defeat the measure.
While in the other states that faced a similar measure, the proponents won overwhelmingly, but in South Dakota the vote ended up being a smaller margin with 55 percent in favor, and 45 percent opposed.
Overall, however, NFIB/South Dakota had an extremely successful night, wining both at the state and federal levels by big margins.
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