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PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – After 14 incumbent South Dakota lawmakers lost their seats in the 2024 Republican primary, 16 lost on Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office. The 2024 shakeup was described as “an earthquake” by Spearfish Rep. Scott Odenbach, a Republican incumbent who won his own primary that year and was elevated to majority leader of the House of Representatives with support from the newcomers. In the 2026 primary, those former newcomers made up the majority of the ousted incumbents. snip Several of the lawmakers who lost their seats in the 2024...

PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The South Dakota Legislature’s ranks will look different in 2027. At least 13 Republican incumbents lost primary elections on Tuesday night, and several others were locked in tight battles as vote counting proceeded into early Wednesday morning. At least six of the contests would qualify for recounts if requested by candidates. As of 2:45 a.m., final results hadn’t been posted on the Secretary of State website for districts 2, 9, 10, 11 and 14, each of which includes parts of Minnehaha County.

Federal income tax experts tell POLITICO money from the DOJ's Judgment Fund, which the new $1.8 billion program is drawing on, is generally taxable.President Donald Trump isn’t supposed to directly profit from the dismissal of his lawsuit against the IRS.And yet, he could still owe taxes on the money going to set up a central feature of that deal — the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”Some tax practitioners say the way that the fund, which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced May 18, is structured likely makes it an income tax liability for the president, potentially costing hundreds of millions of...

The filibuster, not any candidate, is what Republican voters are rejecting across the country There is no question that President Donald Trump is the most powerful person in the Republican Party, but it is equally clear that he was not the reason for four-term Texas Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, getting trounced in his primary Tuesday night. That was all the voters.When Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn late last week, the die was already cast. The president, not surprisingly, just wanted his name associated with the win, and that is something that Senate Majority Leader John Thune,...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has the right instinct on the Department of Justice's new $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.The idea behind the fund deserves a fair hearing; Americans who were targeted by abusive federal power should have some path toward relief, especially after years of lectures from the same political class pretending government weaponization only exists when Democrats campaign on it.Still, a good idea turns rotten fast once Washington gets control of the checkbook.President Donald Trump's administration created the fund as part of a settlement connected to Trump's lawsuit over the leak of his tax records. The agreement gives Trump and...

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., on Wednesday to investigate unspecified allegations against an unnamed senator. “It seems like the Senate has its own trash to take out. @LeaderJohnThune, you need to look into the allegations against one of your senators; it’s very disturbing,” Luna wrote on X. “My chief [of staff] will be contacting your chief [or staff].” The Florida Republican did not specify the nature of the allegations or which senator she was referencing. Luna has consistently called for the expulsion of lawmakers from Congress who have engaged in sexual misconduct. “I’m...

While the SAVE America Act continues to languish in the Senate under the supervision of Republican Leader John Thune, leaders and voters in several states have taken it upon themselves to secure their own elections from noncitizen voting. ...***FloridaGov. Ron DeSantis signed Florida’s own version of the SAVE Act into law last week. The law, which requires citizenship verification against REAL ID data when registering to vote, will go into effect in January of next year.***MississippiMississippi Gov. Tate Reeves also signed election integrity legislation into law last week. Named the Safeguard Honesty Integrity in Elections for Lasting Democracy (SHIELD) Act,...

President Trump’s allies are planning to take over the Senate floor this week in a bid to pass the SAVE America Act, setting up a major test for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) who is under pressure from Trump and the MAGA base to extend the debate over voting reform for as long as possible. GOP senators are playing their cards close to the vest ahead of this week’s marathon debate over the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would require people registering to vote to show documented proof of citizenship. But they’re bracing for long hours...

Washington — Senate Majority Leader John Thune made clear Tuesday that an elections bill known as the SAVE America Act faces an unlikely path to passage, reiterating his skepticism about the bill's chances as President Trump threatens a legislative blockade until Congress approves the measure."There are no easy ways to do this," Thune told reporters Tuesday. "Believe me, we've examined all the options."The legislation, which the House passed last month, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, along with photo ID to cast a ballot. But Mr. Trump has demanded that the legislation go farther and ban all...

CDC Update: Tularemia Outbreak in Prairie Dogs in Texas Tuesday, August 06, 2002 4:15 PM Eastern US http://www.videonewswire.com/CDC/080602/event.html?id=7237

The president of Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota on Tuesday called for the immediate release of tribal members who were detained at a homeless encampment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota last week. Three of the four Oglala Sioux Tribe members who were arrested in Minneapolis on Friday have been transferred to an ICE facility at Fort Snelling, President Frank Star Comes Out said in a statement released with a memorandum sent to federal immigration authorities. “The Oglala Sioux Tribe’s memorandum makes clear that ‘tribal citizens are not aliens’ and are ‘categorically outside immigration jurisdiction,’” Star Comes...

South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden has announced that one of his priorities for 2026 will be to deregulate suppressors/silencers in South Dakota. Governor Rhoden stated he announced his decision support on December 4th. From dakotabroadcasting.com: After congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill earlier this year, silencers or suppressors were deregulated on a federal level. Governor Rhoden says he plans to bring legislation to deregulate these firearm accessories on the state level… December 8, 2025, South Dakota Senator Casey Crabtree announced he is introducing a bill to deregulate silencers in the state. Governor Rhoden announced his support for the measure...

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) on Wednesday signaled an end to further Democrat shutdown shenanigans with a move to go back to what he called the "old-fashioned way" of funding the government. Speaking to members of the press, Thune said that the "path to a stronger, safer America" is getting funding bills passed through the traditional appropriations process "instead of continuing resolutions." The Schumer Shutdown, which brought chaos to American airports, cut funding to SNAP benefits, etc., ended after 43 days. 🚨NOW — Senator John Thune says government is going to operate the OLD—FASHIONED way!By passing appropriation bills instead...

After several school districts and universities across the nation fired or suspended faculty for their controversial social media posts about the murder of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, some of these educators are now taking legal action, claiming their free speech rights were violated. On Wednesday, a federal judge ordered the University of South Dakota to temporarily reinstate professor Michael Hook, after the board of regents recommended his termination over his social media post responding to Kirk’s killing. Hook, a tenured fine arts professor, wrote on his personal Facebook account that he didn’t give a "flying f---" about Kirk,...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Ten South Dakota Department of Correction inmates will be deported as part of Operation Prairie Thunder and after approval by the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles Wednesday. According to a news release from Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden, the inmates will be transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for deportation proceedings, ensuring they are not released back into South Dakota communities. “South Dakota taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for illegal alien criminals,” Rhoden said in the news release. The inmates that were paroled for deportation include: Jose Sanchez...

If there’s one thing that defines the U.S. Senate in recent years, it is its remarkable ability to do less with more time. This summer, the stakes for inaction are far too high. At last count, 144 of President Trump’s nominees – ranging from critical judicial appointments to senior national security and economic posts – remain bottled up in the Senate. That includes dozens of ambassadorial nominees, many of them to strategically vital nations. The reason? A relentless campaign of procedural obstruction by Senate Democrats, who are using every delay tactic in the book to slow-walk confirmations and frustrate the...

Nothing will ever be easy with congressional Republicans. The reconciliation package aged all of us 35 years, as Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to whip votes, hold the line, and make some phone calls. President Trump was also working the phones heavily when final passage was at stake in the House. Republican leadership held the line, but with Rep. Mark Green (R-TN) retiring after the reconciliation vote, delivering what’s left of the Trump agenda before the 2026 midterms is about to get even tougher. The House did its job and passed the rescission package, but...

The attorney representing Mohamed Sabry Soliman — the terrorist charged with firebombing a peaceful pro-Israel demonstration in Boulder, Colorado — was reportedly barred from practicing law just six years earlier over what was described as “misconduct concerning an immigration matter.” The Federalist’s Sean Davis shared the story in a post on X, explaining that attorney Susanna Dvortsin had been reprimanded by the South Dakota Supreme Court and barred from practicing law in that state in 2019. “Guess who was banned from practicing law in 2019 for immigration misconduct? The attorney for the illegal immigrant family of the Egyptian terrorist who...

If you watched Donald Trump's cabinet meeting on Wednesday, you may have seen Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins hold up a photo of the Maude family of South Dakota. I'd heard a little bit about the fifth-generation ranching family before that, but I decided to learn more because I couldn't believe the story Rollins told about how the Joe Biden administration treated them. It's unbelievable. Or maybe it's not, given all we're learning about the last four years. ... Trump Admin is reversing Biden-era failures in 100 days! The U.S. Gov has dropped charges against the Maude family, victims of...

Ranchers and their elected representatives have won a major battle. The federal government dropped criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude of Caputa, SD. Ben Patterson, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Federal District Court in the Western Division of South Dakota signed a motion to dismiss the indictment against Charles Maude and Heather Maude, dated April 28. South Dakota ranchers Charles and Heather Maude were indicted separately nearly a year ago on charges of theft of federal property stemming from a fenceline dispute about a fence built before either were born. Wyoming Congresswoman Harriet Hageman is pleased with the news...