US Midterms 2026
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Dan Ahlers, a former South Dakota state legislator and the 2020 U.S. Senate nominee, is the Democratic nominee for governor of South Dakota in the November 2026 election.
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Recent media coverage for Dan Ahlers.
His dad never ran again for statewide office, but was elected multiple times to the county post. There’s more money for lawyers in the private sector, but “our family’s always believed in public service,” Jackley said.
We’re following the U.S. Senate race between Brian Bengs (I) and Mike Rounds (R) and the gubernatorial race between Dan Ahlers (D) and Larry Rhoden (R), as well as the race for the single U.S. House seat.
Meet Dan Ahlers: The former legislator from Dell Rapids is running for governor: an office that Dems in the state haven't held for 47 years.
No story this week names this candidate.
Ahlers was born on November 14, 1973, in Dell Rapids, South Dakota. His family lived in Rapid City and in Gillette, Wyoming, and came back to Dell Rapids during his high school years; he finished at Dell Rapids High School.
He was assistant manager of a Menards store from 1992 to 2001, served as a South Dakota Senate intern in 1996, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in government and international affairs at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, graduating in 1997.
In 1999 he opened Video Plus, a Dell Rapids video rental shop, and later added stores in Hartford and Tea, which he sold in 2005.
From 2008 to 2011 he owned Jabberwock Coffee House, and he led the Dell Rapids Chamber of Commerce as president and interim administrator for 12 years, until February 2021.
Ahlers represented the 25th legislative district, which takes in Dell Rapids and territory to the north and northeast of Sioux Falls, in the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2007 and 2008, in the South Dakota Senate in 2009 and 2010, and again in the House in 2017 and 2018.
He lost his 2018 reelection race to Republican Tom Pischke by 101 votes. In 2020, as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, he was defeated by Republican incumbent Mike Rounds, 66% to 34%. In 2023 the South Dakota Democratic Party hired him as its executive director.
Ahlers announced in February 2026 that he would seek the Democratic nomination for governor of South Dakota, and he is the party's nominee for the election of November 3, 2026. The incumbent, Republican Larry Rhoden, succeeded Kristi Noem in 2025 when she left to become secretary of homeland security, and he is running for a first full term; the Republican primary of June 2, 2026, went to a runoff on July 28.
