Kristi Noem's replacement crushes self-funding MAGA car dealer as Trump refuses to pick a side in historic race

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 02:29, 29 July 2026 | Updated: 02:48, 29 July 2026 South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden held off a $4 million self-funded insurgency from political newcomer Toby Doeden on Tuesday, winning the first primary runoff in the state's history and all but locking up a full term in office. Rhoden reversed the order of the June 2 primary, when the Aberdeen businessman stunned the Republican establishment by finishing first.  Since no candidate cleared the 35 percent threshold necessary to win outright, a runoff was triggered.  President Trump stayed out of it the entire way, declining to endorse either candidate. Rhoden inherited the job in January 2025, when Kristi Noem left the governorship to run Trump's Department of Homeland Security and her lieutenant governor moved up. The two men could hardly be less alike.  Rhoden, a rancher and welder from Union Center, has spent 25 years in Pierre, serving in both chambers of the legislature, doing a stint as state agriculture secretary and seven years in the South Dakota National Guard before that.  He was Noem's deputy from 2019. South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden is running in the state's first-ever primary runoff election  Republican gubernatorial candidate and businessman Toby Doeden emerged from the primary election as the top vote-getter in the race for South Dakota governor last month President Donald Trump has not endorsed in the South Dakota governor's race Doeden, who ran as a self-declared outsider and has called the political establishment corrupt, made his money in car dealerships, real estate, and bitcoin. Financial disclosures list him as an owner, employee, partner or shareholder in 24 companies and funding sources, according to South Dakota News Watch. Rhoden raised just under $600,000 for the primary but says he pulled in $1.88 million during the runoff, according to a campaign spokesman.  South Dakota's campaign finance law does not require runoff filings, so that figure cannot be independently checked. Rhoden now faces Democrat Dan Ahlers, a former state legislator, on November 3. Two Trump-endorsed picks lost their statewide bid earlier this summer, including Congressman Randy Feenstra in the GOP primary for Iowa governor, and Georgia Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who lost to businessman Rick Jackson in a Republican primary upset in the Peach State. In South Carolina, Trump stepped in with a last-minute dual endorsement of both Alan Wilson and Pamela Evette in that runoff contest last month, after polls showed Wilson was on the cusp of victory. South Dakota is a GOP stronghold that Trump won with over 63 percent of the vote in 2024.  Tuesday's winner is heavily favored to win the gubernatorial race in November.