Larry Rhoden

RepublicanGovernor of South Dakota

Age	67 (b. 1959-02-05)
Gender	Male
In office since	2025-01-01 (~1 yrs)
Race / ethnicity	White
Religion	Baptist (trustee of Union Center Community Baptist Church 1983-2002; currently serves as a deacon of his home church)
Education	Graduated from Sunshine Bible Academy (1977); no college degree reported
Prior occupation	Rancher (cow-calf / purebred Angus cattle operation) and custom welder
Military service	Yes: South Dakota Army National Guard
Birthplace	Sturgis, South Dakota
Marital status	Married — Sandra 'Sandy' (Murphy) Rhoden
Children	4
Residence	Union Center, South Dakota (family ranch); official residence in Pierre as governor
Notable relatives	Son Reggie Rhoden served as executive director of the South Dakota Republican Party

Wikipedia

Pending research: languages · openly lgbtq.

Career & politics

First elected	2000
Previous offices	South Dakota House of Representatives, District 29 (2001-2009) · South Dakota Senate, District 29 (2009-2015) · South Dakota Senate, District 29 (2017-2019) · 39th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota (2019-2025) · Acting/Interim Secretary of Agriculture of South Dakota (May 8 - August 27, 2020)
Leadership	South Dakota House Majority Leader (2005-2008) · South Dakota Senate Majority Whip · Chair, House State Affairs Committee · Chair, Senate State Affairs Committee
Ideology	Conservative Republican; ran in 2014 as a 'conservative voice for limited government' opposing abortion, same-sex marriage, and Medicaid/healthcare expansion; strong Second Amendment advocate
Signature legislation	Sponsored/championed Second Amendment legislation, including HB 1156 to allow enhanced-permit holders to carry firearms in the state Capitol · Worked to reform property taxes · Led effort to repeal the so-called 'Trucker's Tax'

Financial

No holdings recorded yet (from official Financial Disclosure filings).

Scandals & crimes ledger

resolved — Late filing of campaign committee statement of organization; $200 civil penalty

campaign-finance · 2018-08-29 · After Kristi Noem selected Larry Rhoden as her running mate for lieutenant governor around June 24, 2018, South Dakota law (SDCL 12-27-3) required him to file a statement of organization for his candidate campaign committee within 15 days. Rhoden did not file the "Rhoden for Lieutenant Governor" statement of organization until August 29, 2018 — roughly 51 days after the July 9, 2018 deadline. Secretary of State Shantel Krebs confirmed to the Rapid City Journal that this constituted a violation of state campaign-finance law. Under SDCL provisions, the Secretary of State may impose a civil penalty of $200 per violation for failure to timely file a required campaign-finance statement (separate from the class 2 misdemeanor criminal penalty, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, that the untimely filing could theoretically also trigger). Contemporary reporting (including a Dakota Free Press piece critical of the lack of further enforcement) indicates Rhoden was not criminally charged or arrested over the incident; the matter was handled through the $200 administrative civil penalty tied to the late filing. · Rhoden paid/was assessed a $200 civil penalty for the late filing; no criminal charges were pursued.

In 2018, while running for lieutenant governor on Kristi Noem's ticket, Larry Rhoden filed his campaign committee's statutorily required statement of organization about 51 days after the legal deadline, a violation confirmed by the South Dakota Secretary of State that resulted in a $200 civil penalty under state campaign-finance law.

Sources: Rapid City Journal · Dakota Free Press