2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota
← 2014 November 3, 2020 2026 →
 
Nominee Mike Rounds Dan Ahlers
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 276,232 143,987
Percentage 65.74% 34.26%
Rounds:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Ahlers:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
U.S. senator before election

Mike Rounds
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Mike Rounds
Republican

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The 2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of South Dakota, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator Mike Rounds was reelected to a second term in office, overperforming Donald Trump in the concurrent presidential election by 4.93 points.

Republican primary

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in primary

Results

Results by county:
  Rounds
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  •   80–90%
  Borglum
  •   50–60%
Republican primary results[3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mike Rounds (incumbent) 70,365 75.23%
Republican Scyller Borglum 23,164 24.77%
Total votes 93,529 100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

Nominee

Did not qualify

Declined

Independents

Candidates

Withdrew

General election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[10] Safe R October 29, 2020
Inside Elections[11] Safe R October 28, 2020
Sabato's Crystal Ball[12] Safe R November 2, 2020
Daily Kos[13] Safe R October 30, 2020
Politico[14] Safe R November 2, 2020
RCP[15] Safe R October 23, 2020
DDHQ[16] Safe R November 3, 2020
538[17] Safe R November 2, 2020
Economist[18] Safe R November 2, 2020

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size[a] 		Margin
of error 		Mike
Rounds (R) 		Dan
Ahlers (D) 		Undecided
Nielson Brothers Polling October 24–28, 2020 479 (LV) ± 4.48% 56% 39% 5%

Results

United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2020[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Mike Rounds (incumbent) 276,232 65.74% +15.37%
Democratic Daniel Ahlers 143,987 34.26% +4.75%
Total votes 420,219 100.00%
Republican hold
By county
County Mike Rounds
Republican 		Daniel Ahlers
Democratic 		Margin Total
votes
# % # % # %
Aurora 1,002 71.32 403 28.68 599 42.63 1,405
Beadle 5,104 71.99 1,986 28.01 3,118 43.98 7,090
Bennett 729 62.52 437 37.48 292 25.04 1,166
Bon Homme 2,156 72.11 834 27.89 1,322 44.21 2,990
Brookings 8,792 60.48 5,746 39.52 3,046 20.95 14,538
Brown 11,168 64.00 6,283 36.00 4,885 27.99 17,451
Brule 1,735 69.65 756 30.35 979 39.30 2,491
Buffalo 223 40.92 322 59.08 -99 -18.16 545
Butte 3,809 79.85 961 20.15 2,848 59.71 4,770
Campbell 745 85.93 122 14.07 623 71.86 867
Charles Mix 2,542 66.88 1,259 33.12 1,283 33.75 3,801
Clark 1,397 75.64 450 24.36 947 51.27 1,847
Clay 2,857 50.44 2,807 49.56 50 0.88 5,664
Codington 9,479 72.33 3,626 27.67 5,853 44.66 13,105
Corson 681 53.88 583 46.12 98 7.75 1,264
Custer 3,973 72.82 1,483 27.18 2,490 45.64 5,456
Davison 5,893 69.88 2,540 30.12 3,353 39.76 8,433
Day 1,895 63.93 1,069 36.07 826 27.87 2,964
Deuel 1,714 73.18 628 26.81 1,086 46.37 2,342
Dewey 884 45.43 1,062 54.57 -178 -9.15 1,946
Douglas 1,469 86.21 235 13.79 1,234 72.42 1,704
Edmunds 1,539 77.45 448 22.55 1,091 54.91 1,987
Fall River 3,009 75.19 993 24.81 2,016 50.37 4,002
Faulk 975 82.07 213 17.93 762 64.14 1,188
Grant 2,723 72.63 1,026 27.37 1,697 45.26 3,749
Gregory 1,766 78.35 488 21.65 1,278 56.70 2,254
Haakon 1,032 90.69 106 9.31 926 81.37 1,138
Hamlin 2,413 78.60 657 21.40 1,756 57.20 3,070
Hand 1,480 79.66 378 20.34 1,102 59.31 1,858
Hanson 1,796 76.10 564 23.90 1,232 52.20 2,360
Harding 727 90.87 73 9.13 654 81.75 800
Hughes 6,217 70.95 2,546 29.05 3,671 41.89 8,763
Hutchinson 2,982 79.44 772 20.56 2,210 58.87 3,754
Hyde 568 79.89 143 20.11 425 59.78 711
Jackson 756 67.92 357 32.08 399 35.85 1,113
Jerauld 720 72.22 277 27.78 443 44.43 997
Jones 497 83.39 99 16.61 398 66.78 596
Kingsbury 1,970 70.89 809 29.11 1,161 41.78 2,779
Lake 3,816 64.84 2,069 35.16 1,747 29.69 5,885
Lawrence 9,385 68.29 4,358 31.71 5,027 36.58 13,743
Lincoln 21,221 65.83 11,013 34.17 10,208 31.67 32,234
Lyman 1,066 66.67 533 33.33 533 33.33 1,599
Marshall 1,334 61.00 853 39.00 481 22.00 2,187
McCook 2,072 71.28 835 28.72 1,237 42.55 2,907
McPherson 1,086 82.21 235 17.79 851 64.42 1,321
Meade 10,355 76.53 3,176 23.47 7,179 53.06 13,531
Mellette 468 60.70 303 39.30 165 21.40 771
Miner 807 70.42 339 29.58 468 40.84 1,146
Minnehaha 52,773 57.63 38,799 42.37 13,974 15.26 91,572
Moody 1,877 58.29 1,343 41.71 534 16.58 3,220
Oglala Lakota 510 15.93 2,691 84.07 -2,181 -68.14 3,201
Pennington 37,694 66.27 19,184 33.73 18,510 32.54 56,878
Perkins 1,395 84.85 249 15.15 1,146 69.71 1,644
Potter 1,160 83.82 224 16.18 936 67.63 1,384
Roberts 2,529 58.87 1,767 41.13 762 17.74 4,296
Sanborn 898 76.17 281 23.83 617 52.33 1,179
Spink 2,178 68.84 986 31.16 1,192 37.67 3,164
Stanley 1,274 77.12 378 22.88 896 54.24 1,652
Sully 759 81.88 168 18.12 591 63.75 927
Todd 706 28.22 1,796 71.78 -1,090 -43.56 2,502
Tripp 2,188 81.34 502 18.66 1,686 62.68 2,690
Turner 3,416 75.21 1,126 24.79 2,290 50.42 4,542
Union 6,364 72.56 2,407 27.44 3,957 45.12 8,771
Walworth 2,040 79.53 525 20.47 1,515 59.06 2,565
Yankton 6,994 64.51 3,848 35.49 3,146 29.02 10,842
Ziebach 450 49.56 458 50.44 -8 -0.88 908
Totals 276,232 65.74 143,987 34.26 132,245 31.47 420,219
Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes

  1. ^ Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

References

  1. ^ Rounds, Johnson gearing up for 2020
  2. ^ Kaczke, Lisa (July 1, 2019). "Scyller Borglum, Republican legislator from Rapid City, announces U.S. Senate candidacy". Argus Leader. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  3. ^ "2020PrimaryStateCanvassReportandCertificate.pdf" (PDF). South Dakota Secretary of State. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  4. ^ "Democrat Ahlers to challenge for Senate seat". KELO Newstalk 1320 107.9. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  5. ^ Kaczke, Lisa (November 9, 2019). "Clara Hart of Sioux Falls announces Democratic candidacy for U.S. Senate". Argus Leader. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  6. ^ a b Singiser, Steve. "Here's our ultimate Democratic wishlist for Senate in 2020. Who's on yours?". Daily Kos. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
  7. ^ Levinson, Alexis (March 18, 2015). "Potential Thune Challenger Bows Out". Roll Call. Archived from the original on March 21, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2018. It's certainly something that I would consider in the future,
  8. ^ KSFY (November 7, 2018). "Billie Sutton still plans to serve South Dakota in some capacity". www.ksfy.com. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  9. ^ "SOUTH DAKOTA". Politics1. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  10. ^ "2020 Senate Race Ratings for October 29, 2020". The Cook Political Report. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  11. ^ "2020 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved March 11, 2021.
  12. ^ "2020 Senate race ratings". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved March 12, 2021.
  13. ^ "2020 Senate Race Ratings". Daily Kos Elections. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  14. ^ "2020 Election Forecast". Politico. November 19, 2019.
  15. ^ "Battle for the Senate 2020". RCP. October 23, 2020.
  16. ^ "2020 Senate Elections Model". Decision Desk HQ. September 2, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  17. ^ Silver, Nate (September 18, 2020). "Forecasting the race for the Senate". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  18. ^ "Forecasting the US elections". The Economist. November 2, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2021.
  19. ^ "General Election - November 3, 2020" (PDF). Secretary of State of South Dakota. November 10, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.

External links

Official campaign websites
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