Dusty Johnson wants to fix SD's property taxes, public health crisis — and the GOP divide

Yahoo

01-07-2025

With his family by his side, and his old boss Dennis Daugaard sitting across from him, Dusty Johnson could finally get this off his chest: He's entering the contest for South Dakota's governor job.
Johnson, currently South Dakota's lone U.S. r asepresentative, announced the launch of his campaign to run for the state's gubernatorial position June 30 at a Steel District hotel in Sioux Falls.
Johnson is now the third South Dakota Republican to officially enter the 2026 race and the fifth entrant overall.
In a conference room filled with at least a hundred Dusty supporters, several state Republican figures preceded Johnson with an endorsement speech.
Among the crowd, several other state and local leaders turned out in support of Johnson. Reps. Brian Mulder Drew Peterson, Tim Reisch, and Kevin Van Diepen appeared at the event, as did Joe Kippley, Minnehaha County commissioner and public health director for the City of Sioux Falls.
State Reps. Taylor Rehfeldt, R-Sioux Falls, and Will Mortenson, R-Ft. Pierre, took to the podium at the center of the hall, each heralding the congressman as a "visionary leader" and a man with "integrity."
"We need a leader who isn't afraid of hard work, a leader who will stand firm in their own convictions and still listen," Rehfeldt said. "A leader who doesn't chase headlines but chases results. That, my friends, is Dusty Johnson."
Johnson's largest endorsement of the day came from one of the state's previous leaders, former Gov. Dennis Daugaard, whom Johnson served as chief of staff.
Daugaard extolled Johnson's problem solving attitude, saying his former executive assistant brings a "kind of common sense conservatism."
"As my chief of staff, Dusty helped me cut $127 million from our state budget to get it back in balance, but without raising taxes and without cutting vital services," Daugaard said. "I've always believed that leadership isn't about attention seeking or about personal achievement or ladder climbing. It's about work and results. That's how I tried to lead as your governor, and I can tell you, that's exactly how Dusty Johnson leads."
After Daugaard, Johnson's sons, Ben, Max and Owen stepped up to the mic, and, after talking up their father, introduced Dusty Johnson, who entered from a room behind the main stage.
Jacquelyn Johnson, Dusty Johnson's wife, entered the hall first, with the congressman just behind her.
Johnson hugged his sons before turning to the applauding crowd. Joined by his loved ones, Johnson talked about an important decision he made "23 years ago" — moving back home to South Dakota.
"We knew this was a special place filled with great people and strong values," Johnson said.
Johnson laid out his executive priorities as governor, saying he would focus on property taxes, public health and affordable education.
Of property taxes, Johnson said he would aim to cut property taxes, "not as some have proposed, but responsibly, protecting those core services, roads, bridges, cops, schools."
In a media gaggle following his announcement, Johnson elaborated on his property tax designs, which would be focused on raising state and local revenues to offset tax reductions.
"Over the course of the last 10 years, I would bet on average that South Dakota has $70 million or $80 million of new revenue every single year. Our economy grows when that happens, the sales tax revenues grow," Johnson said. "Last quarter, our state grew at 0%. At the same time, our country grew 3.2% annualized. South Dakota is capable of more than that. We know that, over the last 30 years, we on average have grown a lot more than that. If we can increase that rate of growth, we're going to increase the revenues that allow us to invest in those two top priorities."
Public health is also an area Johnson said he is looking to lead on, with a hope to encourage "safer communities" by focusing on drugs and addiction and creating "new drug interdiction teams."
In this vein, Johnson also said he desired "smarter treatment" and training inside the walls of South Dakota's various prisons.
A Project Prison Reset committee, launched by Gov. Larry Rhoden and actively led by Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, is currently crafting a proposal for the full Legislature to decide where a new men's prison should be built in South Dakota, with the hope that a new facility would offset severe overcrowding and improve safety at the South Dakota State Penitentiary in Sioux Falls and other facilities.
So far, the committee has only given the thumbs-up to two out of 14 proposed sites for a new men's prison — one in Mitchell, and the other near Worthing — and is actively considering potential expansion of the state's current facilities.
The Argus Leader asked Johnson whether the state should expand its existing prison infrastructure or build new prisons.
Johnson did not directly opine one way or the other, instead preferring to leave the process in the hands of the prison committee.
But the congressman added he hoped the prison board would make a decision "for the long-term rather than engage in a Band-Aid solution."
Rhoden released a May 15 consultant report that suggested the state should add 3,264 prison beds across multiple facilities across a 10-year period, costing upwards of $2.1 billion.
Asked if he supported the plan, which would cover the state's prison population through 2036, Johnson handwaved the report, saying a "variety of consultants in this state and elsewhere believe there are a number of good, long-term plans."
"It's not my job today to, you know, to determine which of those is best. But Gov. Rhoden has put together a good committee," Johnson said. "They are doing their work. It's not my job to tell them where to end up. I just hope they make a good long term decision."
Johnson also noted his education platform. He told his supporters he planned to make college and tech school more affordable.
"It means finding those programs and research that really moves South Dakota forward," Johnson said. "For K-12, it means being relentless about student achievement, setting real goals, using real data, and not being afraid to lead."
So far, two other Republican candidates, South Dakota House Speaker Jon Hansen and Aberdeen businessman and conservative activist Toby Doeden, have announced their campaigns for the governor's seat.
Hansen and Doeden offer more conservative options compared with the establishment or traditional Republicans.
Hansen played a key role in defeating Amendment G, a proposed state amendment that would have enshrined the right to an abortion into the South Dakota Constitution. Hansen and his running mate, Speaker Pro Tempore Karla Lems, also worked to prevent carbon dioxide pipeline developers like Summit Carbon Solutions from constructing large-scale sequestration lines through the Mount Rushmore State.
Doeden also shifted the make-up of the state Legislature by funding the election campaigns of populist, property rights-oriented Republicans, which aided other conservatives of the same stripe in taking top legislative positions and committee chair assignments.
Johnson pointed to his experience in a "rowdy and colorful Republican U.S. House," saying he worked with conservatives of various flavors on national border security, spending cuts and welfare reform.
Asked by the Argus Leader how he intended to garner support from the state's populist and property rights Republicans, some of whom support Hansen and Doeden, Johnson said he's worked as an "emissary" to the national Freedom Caucus, a highly conservative bloc.
"I've got to tell you, the Freedom Caucus in the Republican House is pretty conservative. And I worked with those guys and we get good things done together every Tuesday morning," Johnson said. "When I'm in D.C., I'm having breakfast with key Freedom Caucus leaders. They trust me that they know that I'm somebody who can work with them to deliver conservative victories. That's what we're going to build in South Dakota."
But for supporters like Mortenson, who said Johnson's announcement occasion was something he had been waiting for going on "15 years," the gap between the MAGA-esque Doeden and the strictly conservative Hansen is something worth celebrating.
"The other folks running for governor would tell you our state is broken. They'd say we're … headed down the wrong track. They want to defund our schools. That's their words, that's their bills, not mine. They want to stifle agriculture. They want government to regulate everything from corrals to crayons," Mortenson said. "Theirs is a dangerous map that leads to a dark place for South Dakota."
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Dusty Johnson's governor bid welcomed by traditional Republicans