# 2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota

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The 2020 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of South Dakota, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator Mike Rounds was reelected to a second term in office, overperforming Donald Trump in the concurrent presidential election by 4.93 points.

## Republican primary
### Candidates
#### Nominee

* Mike Rounds, incumbent U.S. senator

#### Eliminated in primary

* Scyller Borglum, state representative

### Results

Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Mike Rounds (incumbent) | 70,365 | 75.23% |
| | Republican | Scyller Borglum | 23,164 | 24.77% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 93,529 | 100.00% |

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Nominee

* Daniel Ahlers, former state representative and former state senator

#### Did not qualify

* Clara Hart, board member of the Sioux Falls Arts Council

#### Declined

* Erin Healy, state representative
* Brendan Johnson, former United States Attorney for the District of South Dakota
* Billie Sutton, former minority leader of the South Dakota Senate and nominee for Governor of South Dakota in 2018
* Susan Wismer, state senator and Democratic nominee for Governor of South Dakota in 2014

## Independents
### Candidates
#### Withdrew

* Clayton Walker, independent candidate in the 2014 United States Senate election in South Dakota and Democratic candidate in the 2010 South Dakota House of Representatives elections

## General election
### Predictions

| Source | Ranking | As of |
| The Cook Political Report | Safe R | October 29, 2020 |
| Inside Elections | Safe R | October 28, 2020 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe R | November 2, 2020 |
| Daily Kos | Safe R | October 30, 2020 |
| Politico | Safe R | November 2, 2020 |
| RCP | Safe R | October 23, 2020 |
| DDHQ | Safe R | November 3, 2020 |
| 538 | Safe R | November 2, 2020 |
| Economist | Safe R | November 2, 2020 |

### Polling

| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size | Margin of error | Mike Rounds (R) | Dan Ahlers (D) | Undecided |
| Nielson Brothers Polling | October 24–28, 2020 | 479 (LV) | ± 4.48% | 56% | 39% | 5% |

### Results

United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2020 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Republican | Mike Rounds (incumbent) | 276,232 | 65.74% | +15.37% |
| | Democratic | Daniel Ahlers | 143,987 | 34.26% | +4.75% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 420,219 | 100.00% | |
| | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold | Republican hold |

#### By county

By county :
| County | Mike Rounds Republican | Mike Rounds Republican | Daniel Ahlers Democratic | Daniel Ahlers Democratic | Margin | Margin | Total votes |
| County | # | % | # | % | # | % | Total votes |
| Aurora | 1,002 | 71.32 | 403 | 28.68 | 599 | 42.63 | 1,405 |
| Beadle | 5,104 | 71.99 | 1,986 | 28.01 | 3,118 | 43.98 | 7,090 |
| Bennett | 729 | 62.52 | 437 | 37.48 | 292 | 25.04 | 1,166 |
| Bon Homme | 2,156 | 72.11 | 834 | 27.89 | 1,322 | 44.21 | 2,990 |
| Brookings | 8,792 | 60.48 | 5,746 | 39.52 | 3,046 | 20.95 | 14,538 |
| Brown | 11,168 | 64.00 | 6,283 | 36.00 | 4,885 | 27.99 | 17,451 |
| Brule | 1,735 | 69.65 | 756 | 30.35 | 979 | 39.30 | 2,491 |
| Buffalo | 223 | 40.92 | 322 | 59.08 | -99 | -18.16 | 545 |
| Butte | 3,809 | 79.85 | 961 | 20.15 | 2,848 | 59.71 | 4,770 |
| Campbell | 745 | 85.93 | 122 | 14.07 | 623 | 71.86 | 867 |
| Charles Mix | 2,542 | 66.88 | 1,259 | 33.12 | 1,283 | 33.75 | 3,801 |
| Clark | 1,397 | 75.64 | 450 | 24.36 | 947 | 51.27 | 1,847 |
| Clay | 2,857 | 50.44 | 2,807 | 49.56 | 50 | 0.88 | 5,664 |
| Codington | 9,479 | 72.33 | 3,626 | 27.67 | 5,853 | 44.66 | 13,105 |
| Corson | 681 | 53.88 | 583 | 46.12 | 98 | 7.75 | 1,264 |
| Custer | 3,973 | 72.82 | 1,483 | 27.18 | 2,490 | 45.64 | 5,456 |
| Davison | 5,893 | 69.88 | 2,540 | 30.12 | 3,353 | 39.76 | 8,433 |
| Day | 1,895 | 63.93 | 1,069 | 36.07 | 826 | 27.87 | 2,964 |
| Deuel | 1,714 | 73.18 | 628 | 26.81 | 1,086 | 46.37 | 2,342 |
| Dewey | 884 | 45.43 | 1,062 | 54.57 | -178 | -9.15 | 1,946 |
| Douglas | 1,469 | 86.21 | 235 | 13.79 | 1,234 | 72.42 | 1,704 |
| Edmunds | 1,539 | 77.45 | 448 | 22.55 | 1,091 | 54.91 | 1,987 |
| Fall River | 3,009 | 75.19 | 993 | 24.81 | 2,016 | 50.37 | 4,002 |
| Faulk | 975 | 82.07 | 213 | 17.93 | 762 | 64.14 | 1,188 |
| Grant | 2,723 | 72.63 | 1,026 | 27.37 | 1,697 | 45.26 | 3,749 |
| Gregory | 1,766 | 78.35 | 488 | 21.65 | 1,278 | 56.70 | 2,254 |
| Haakon | 1,032 | 90.69 | 106 | 9.31 | 926 | 81.37 | 1,138 |
| Hamlin | 2,413 | 78.60 | 657 | 21.40 | 1,756 | 57.20 | 3,070 |
| Hand | 1,480 | 79.66 | 378 | 20.34 | 1,102 | 59.31 | 1,858 |
| Hanson | 1,796 | 76.10 | 564 | 23.90 | 1,232 | 52.20 | 2,360 |
| Harding | 727 | 90.87 | 73 | 9.13 | 654 | 81.75 | 800 |
| Hughes | 6,217 | 70.95 | 2,546 | 29.05 | 3,671 | 41.89 | 8,763 |
| Hutchinson | 2,982 | 79.44 | 772 | 20.56 | 2,210 | 58.87 | 3,754 |
| Hyde | 568 | 79.89 | 143 | 20.11 | 425 | 59.78 | 711 |
| Jackson | 756 | 67.92 | 357 | 32.08 | 399 | 35.85 | 1,113 |
| Jerauld | 720 | 72.22 | 277 | 27.78 | 443 | 44.43 | 997 |
| Jones | 497 | 83.39 | 99 | 16.61 | 398 | 66.78 | 596 |
| Kingsbury | 1,970 | 70.89 | 809 | 29.11 | 1,161 | 41.78 | 2,779 |
| Lake | 3,816 | 64.84 | 2,069 | 35.16 | 1,747 | 29.69 | 5,885 |
| Lawrence | 9,385 | 68.29 | 4,358 | 31.71 | 5,027 | 36.58 | 13,743 |
| Lincoln | 21,221 | 65.83 | 11,013 | 34.17 | 10,208 | 31.67 | 32,234 |
| Lyman | 1,066 | 66.67 | 533 | 33.33 | 533 | 33.33 | 1,599 |
| Marshall | 1,334 | 61.00 | 853 | 39.00 | 481 | 22.00 | 2,187 |
| McCook | 2,072 | 71.28 | 835 | 28.72 | 1,237 | 42.55 | 2,907 |
| McPherson | 1,086 | 82.21 | 235 | 17.79 | 851 | 64.42 | 1,321 |
| Meade | 10,355 | 76.53 | 3,176 | 23.47 | 7,179 | 53.06 | 13,531 |
| Mellette | 468 | 60.70 | 303 | 39.30 | 165 | 21.40 | 771 |
| Miner | 807 | 70.42 | 339 | 29.58 | 468 | 40.84 | 1,146 |
| Minnehaha | 52,773 | 57.63 | 38,799 | 42.37 | 13,974 | 15.26 | 91,572 |
| Moody | 1,877 | 58.29 | 1,343 | 41.71 | 534 | 16.58 | 3,220 |
| Oglala Lakota | 510 | 15.93 | 2,691 | 84.07 | -2,181 | -68.14 | 3,201 |
| Pennington | 37,694 | 66.27 | 19,184 | 33.73 | 18,510 | 32.54 | 56,878 |
| Perkins | 1,395 | 84.85 | 249 | 15.15 | 1,146 | 69.71 | 1,644 |
| Potter | 1,160 | 83.82 | 224 | 16.18 | 936 | 67.63 | 1,384 |
| Roberts | 2,529 | 58.87 | 1,767 | 41.13 | 762 | 17.74 | 4,296 |
| Sanborn | 898 | 76.17 | 281 | 23.83 | 617 | 52.33 | 1,179 |
| Spink | 2,178 | 68.84 | 986 | 31.16 | 1,192 | 37.67 | 3,164 |
| Stanley | 1,274 | 77.12 | 378 | 22.88 | 896 | 54.24 | 1,652 |
| Sully | 759 | 81.88 | 168 | 18.12 | 591 | 63.75 | 927 |
| Todd | 706 | 28.22 | 1,796 | 71.78 | -1,090 | -43.56 | 2,502 |
| Tripp | 2,188 | 81.34 | 502 | 18.66 | 1,686 | 62.68 | 2,690 |
| Turner | 3,416 | 75.21 | 1,126 | 24.79 | 2,290 | 50.42 | 4,542 |
| Union | 6,364 | 72.56 | 2,407 | 27.44 | 3,957 | 45.12 | 8,771 |
| Walworth | 2,040 | 79.53 | 525 | 20.47 | 1,515 | 59.06 | 2,565 |
| Yankton | 6,994 | 64.51 | 3,848 | 35.49 | 3,146 | 29.02 | 10,842 |
| Ziebach | 450 | 49.56 | 458 | 50.44 | -8 | -0.88 | 908 |
| Totals | 276,232 | 65.74 | 143,987 | 34.26 | 132,245 | 31.47 | 420,219 |