Dan Ahlers, the Democratic nominee for South Dakota Governor, is making a unique pitch to voters in the heavily red state: split your ticket. 

Ahlers is under no illusions his party faces an uphill battle this November - many Republican candidates in state House and state Senate races are running unopposed – but is urging South Dakotans to ditch the GOP’s near 50-year hold on the Governorship in Pierre. 

“A Democratic governor and a Republican legislature can be an incredible thing for this state,” Ahlers told The Caucus. “We need to bring balance back to government.” 

While South Dakota has a not-so-distant history of electing Democrats to statewide offices – the state had a Democrat in the U.S. Senate as recently as 2014 and a Democratic U.S. Representative in 2010 – the state has voted for a Republican for Governor in every election since 1978. 

“We’ve had 50 years of one-party rule, and I don’t care what party it is, it’s not healthy for the process,” Ahlers said. “You get corruption. You get entitlement. And you get complacency.” 

According to a study released last year by the Cato Institute, South Dakota was ranked the third most corrupt state in the U.S., based on the conviction rates for public corruption by state government employees. 

Ahlers, who previously served in the South Dakota legislature and was the Democratic nominee in the state’s 2020 U.S. Senate race, is hopeful his message of bipartisanship and emphasis on kitchen table issues such as education and healthcare will resonate with Republican-leaning voters. 

“I hear Republicans say ‘We don’t share the same values’ and that’s simply not true. I don’t know a single person that says, ‘I want bad schools.’ I don’t know a single person that says ‘I want poor healthcare.’ And I don’t know a single person that says ‘I love the potholes on my road,’” Ahlers said. “The real differences are the ways that we get there, and the beauty of the process is when people from different backgrounds and different ideas come together to work out those differences…that’s where the strength lies and where real progress can be made.” 

In addition to giving examples of effective bipartisanship, such as former Democratic South Dakota Senator Tom Daschle reaching a power sharing agreement with Mississippi’s Republican Senator Trent Lott in 2001, Ahlers drew inspiration from another high-profile South Dakota Democrat: former Senator George McGovern. 

Ahlers recalled how McGovern, who also served as the Democratic nominee for President in 1972, teamed up with former Kansas GOP Senator (and another former presidential candidate) Bob Dole to spearhead a food aid initiative in 2002 that allowed U.S. agricultural products to be sent to malnourished communities abroad. The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program eventually provided school meals to children in 41 countries over an eight-year period.  

“Two senators from opposite parties, both World War II vets, came together and created a program that benefits our farmers today and feeds people across the world,” Ahlers said. “That’s the potential we have here in South Dakota” 

Ground Game Key 

Ahlers also serves as Executive Director of the Democratic Party in South Dakota and said, despite recent history, he believes growing concerns over Republican’s handling of the economy could provide an opening for Democrats running in the state’s legislative races.  

“I think you’re going to see a pickup of some seats [in the South Dakota legislature],” Ahlers said. “What that will look like really depends on the candidates and how hard they are working. Are they out there knocking doors? Are they meeting folks?” 

Ahlers said an aggressive ground game can give Democrats a fighting chance in the state, pointing to the mayoral race in Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s largest city, earlier this year, where the Democratic candidate Jamie Smith lost to his GOP challenger by only four votes despite being outspent nearly four-to-one. 

“He got close because he was going out there and meeting people,” Ahlers said.  

As for his own campaign for governor, where he is facing current Governor Larry Rhoden, who assumed the role in January last year after President Trump nominated then-Governor Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, Ahlers is optimistic his practical approach will make inroads with South Dakotans. 

“I’m feeling really good,” Ahlers said. 

(Photo: Dan Ahlers, via Dan Ahlers for Governor)