South Dakota primary leads Doeden to runoff

South Dakota's Republican gubernatorial primary is headed to a runoff election after no candidate secured the required 35 percent of the vote in Tuesday's contest. Businessman Toby Doeden, who positioned himself as a political outsider, has advanced to the second round, while the race for the second spot remained too close to call as vote counting continued.

With over 95 percent of the vote reported, Doeden led the field with approximately 30.6 percent. Incumbent Governor Larry Rhoden, former Lieutenant Governor Dusty Johnson, and State House Speaker Jon Hansen were separated by a narrow margin, each garnering between 20 and 25 percent of the vote. The second-place finisher will join Doeden in a runoff scheduled for July 28, as mandated by state law when no candidate reaches the 35 percent threshold in a primary with three or more candidates.

The primary campaign grew contentious in its final months, focusing largely on fiscal policy. Doeden and Johnson criticized Rhoden and Hansen for supporting legislation that increased state and county sales taxes to fund property tax cuts. A political action committee spent heavily on advertising attacking Rhoden over the issue, which he...