# 2010 United States Senate election in South Dakota

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The 2010 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 2, 2010, along other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator John Thune won re-election to a second term unopposed.

## Background

Thune was narrowly elected to his first term over Democratic Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle with 51% of the vote in 2004. Despite his lack of seniority, Thune became chairman of the U.S. Republican Policy Committee in 2009.
Thune did not face any opposition whatsoever in his 2010 re-election. South Dakota State Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem said "We just concluded that John Thune is an extremely popular senator who is going to win another term in the Senate." There were exactly 89,136 undervotes compared to the concurrent gubernatorial election.

## General election
### Candidate

* John Thune, incumbent U.S. Senator

### Predictions

| Source | Ranking | As of |
| Cook Political Report | Solid R | October 26, 2010 |
| Rothenberg | Safe R | October 22, 2010 |
| RealClearPolitics | Safe R | October 26, 2010 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe R | October 21, 2010 |
| CQ Politics | Safe R | October 26, 2010 |

### Polling

| Poll source | Date (s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | John Thune (R) | Generic Democrat | Other | Undecided |
| Public Policy Polling | December 10–13, 2009 | 702 | ± 3.7% | 56% | 33% | — | 11% |
| Public Policy Polling | January 5, 2010 | 702 | ± 3.7% | 56% | 43% | — | 5% |
| Public Policy Polling | April 5, 2010 | 702 | ± 3.7% | 58% | 34% | — | 5% |
| Public Policy Polling | June 5–8, 2010 | 702 | ± 3.7% | 54% | 44% | — | 5% |

### Fundraising

| Candidate (Party) | Receipts | Disbursements | Cash on hand | Debt |
| John Thune (R) | $6,282,750 | $2,988,648 | $7,194,549 | $0 |
| Source: Federal Election Commission |||||

## Results

United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2010 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | John Thune (incumbent) | 227,947 | 100.00% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 227,947 | 100.00% |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |

### Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

* Beadle (Largest city: Huron)
* Bon Homme (Largest city: Springfield)
* Brown (Largest city: Aberdeen)
* Brule (Largest city: Chamberlain)
* Charles Mix (Largest city: Wagner)
* Corson (Largest city: McLaughlin)
* Deuel (Largest city: Clear Lake)
* Grant (Largest city: Milbank)
* Jerauld (Largest city: Wessington Springs)
* Kingsbury (Largest city: De Smet)
* Lake (Largest city: Madison)
* Miner (Largest city: Howard)
* Minnehaha (Largest city: Sioux Falls)
* Moody (Largest city: Flandreau)
* Sanborn (Largest city: Woonsocket)
* Brookings (largest city: Brookings)
* Aurora (largest city: Plankinton)
* Bennett (largest city: Martin)
* Clark (largest city: Clark)
* Edmunds (largest city: Ipswich)
* Faulk (largest city: Faulkton)
* Hand (largest city: Miller)
* Jackson (largest city: Kadoka)
* Lyman (largest city: Lower Brule)
* Spink (largest city: Redfield)
* Yankton (largest city: Yankton)
* Day (Largest city: Webster)
* Roberts (Largest city: Sisseton)
* Ziebach (Largest city: Dupree)
* Marshall (largest city: Britton)
* Oglala Lakota (largest city: Pine Ridge)
* Todd (largest city: Mission)
* Buffalo (largest city: Fort Thompson)
* Mellette (Largest city: White River)
* Clay (Largest city: Vermillion)
* Dewey (Largest city: North Eagle Butte)