The 2010 South Dakota gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010 to elect the

Governor of South Dakota The governor of South Dakota is the head of government of South Dakota. The governor is elected to a four-year term in even years when there is no presidential election. The current governor is Kristi Noem, a member of the Republican Party who t ...

to a four-year term. Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Mike Rounds Marion Michael Rounds (born October 24, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from South Dakota since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 31st governor of South Dakota ...

was ineligible to run for re-election due to

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

. Republican candidate

Dennis Daugaard Dennis Martin Daugaard (born June 11, 1953) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 32nd governor of South Dakota from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the first chief executive of a U.S. state to be the ...

was elected, defeating Democratic candidate

Scott Heidepriem Scott N. Heidepriem (born June 25, 1956) is an American attorney and former South Dakota state legislator. Early life, education, and career Heidepriem graduated with his bachelors, masters, and juris doctor from the University of South Dakota. ...

Republican primary

Candidates

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

* Gordon Howie,

State Senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...

* Dave Knudson,

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

Majority Leader *Ken Knuppe, rancher * Scott Munsterman, former mayor of Brookings

Results

Democratic primary

Candidate

Minority LeaderEmily Calde
Heidepriem Fills Party's South Dakota Gov Gap
. July 28, 2009. ''Eye on 2010'' Blog, CQPolitics.com

Results

Heidepriem faced no opposition in the Democratic primary.

General election

Predictions

Polling

Results

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two ...

(largest city:

Webster Webster may refer to: People *Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name Places Canada *Webster, Alberta * Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario United Stat ...

) * Roberts (largest city:

Sisseton Sisseton is a city in Roberts County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,479 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Roberts County. Sisseton is the home to a number of tourist attractions, including the Nicollet Tower, and ...

) * Ziebach (largest city: Dupree) * Corson (Largest city: McLaughlin) * Dewey (Largest city: North Eagle Butte)

References

External links

Elections & Voter Registration
at South Dakota Secretary of State
Candidates for South Dakota State Offices
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Campaign contributions for 2010 South Dakota Governor
from ''Follow the Money''

from OurCampaigns.com
2010 South Dakota General Election
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: South Dakota Governor
from '' Rasmussen Reports''
2010 South Dakota Governor – Daugaard vs. Heidepriem
from ''

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political new ...

''
2010 South Dakota Governor's Race
from ''

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' ;Official campaign websites (Archived)
Dennis DaugaardScott HeidepriemGordon HowieDave KnudsonKen KnuppeScott Munsterman
{{United States elections, 2010

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large po ...