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South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden drinks a cup of coffee on June 26 in the living room at his ranch near Union Center. South Dakota Searchlight photo by Makenzie Huber.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden leaned forward in a leather recliner in his living room, considering the criticism from a former colleague about their disagreements.
“I think there’s probably some fair statements in there,” Rhoden finally said.
In his late 30s and early 40s while on the Meade School District Board, Rhoden couldn’t back up his opinions effectively during debates, Terry Koontz said. She served with him on the board more than 25 years ago.
“Of all the board members I worked with, he’s the worst,” Koontz said.
The two clashed over policies ranging from rural education and homeschooling to the proposed location of a rodeo arena near Sturgis Brown High School. Rhoden became frustrated and angry when the board didn’t vote his way — which Koontz said was often.
Koontz’s characterization of Rhoden stands at odds with the reputation he’s built in state politics over the last two decades as a convener and collaborator. Rhoden, 67, said he’s changed.
“At that age, I wasn’t patient with people, especially when I thought they were stuck on stupid. It got me angry.”
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That frustration, he said, pushed him to be more considerate of others’ opinions as he continued in politics. He believes those and other life lessons have prepared him to seek his own four-year term as South Dakota’s lead executive after being elevated from lieutenant governor 17 months ago when Gov. Kristi Noem resigned to join President Donald Trump’s administration.
“Every step of the way you learn, you mature,” Rhoden said.
Ranch provides roots and a refuge
Walking along the gravel road winding through his ranch, Rhoden points out a small white house hidden behind trees and overgrown shrubs. He grew up there with his father, mother, three brothers and twin sister.
In his welding shop on his ranch in rural Union Center on June 26, South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden points to an example of a brand he made into a branding iron. South Dakota Searchlight photo by Makenzie Huber.
Rhoden learned how to drive at age 8 on a tractor pulling a mower in a nearby field, and he attended a two-room country school down the road in Union Center. One of his first memories of chores on the ranch was gathering and washing chicken eggs with his sister to sell at a Sturgis grocery store about 45 miles away.
He knew his future was on the family ranch spanning a couple thousand acres. Both sets of grandparents homesteaded within 20 miles of his home.
But as Rhoden’s career in politics has advanced, his time on the ranch has dwindled.
During his 16 years in the Legislature, he struggled to keep up with chores at home. A neighbor drove several miles to his ranch daily to feed his cattle during the three-month legislative sessions. When Noem asked Rhoden to temporarily add interim secretary of agriculture to his duties as lieutenant governor, he sold the cattle to that neighbor’s son and leased some of his land out to him.
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Rhoden’s father taught him to weld, and Rhoden started a business years ago on the ranch making custom branding irons. Since he became governor, the youngest of his four sons has largely taken that over.
Now, welding serves as therapy.
“Anytime we come home, if there’s still daylight, I’ll change clothes and come out to the shop and light up the forge,” Rhoden said.
National Guard, political experience
Rhoden graduated from high school at the private Sunshine Bible Academy in 1977. He attended a vocational ranch management program in Rapid City, but dropped out, saying he didn’t think the vocational classes were practical enough for ranch life. He is one of 12 governors in South Dakota history to lack a college degree.
He joined the South Dakota National Guard in 1978, went to welding school for his occupational specialty and served for six years, mostly in a maintenance battalion in Sturgis as part of the 842nd Engineering Company.
His time at basic training tested his mental and physical limits, he said. Being “yelled at in the face” taught him to keep his cool in stressful situations, something he said served him well while leading lawmakers in the “pressure cooker” of the Legislature as assistant House majority leader and then House majority leader. He served as a legislator from 2001 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2018.
Rhoden suffered some setbacks while attempting to win higher offices. He lost a bid for majority leader in the state Senate in 2011 and said he learned how to “be effective because of who you are and not what your position is” as a rank-and-file member. He described learning how to “lose well” in his failed bid for the U.S. Senate in 2014, when he finished second in a five-way primary that included former governor and eventual U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds.
Rhoden introduced and endorsed Rounds at that year’s Republican convention, and called for party unity.
“That paid dividends for me for years after that,” Rhoden said, “because they had all of the leaders of the party there, and my stock went up in value because of that. And I think it ultimately had an impact on Kristi’s decision to ask me to be a running mate.”
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It took Rhoden “probably a total of three seconds,” he said, to accept Noem’s invitation to be her running mate in 2018. The two had previously served together as legislators.
“It’s that sense that God put you on the planet to do more than serve yourself,” said Rhoden, a lifelong Baptist.
“I remember an old-timer who told me, ‘You should run for office for what you can do, not what you can be,’” Rhoden added. “I think there’s a lot of wisdom in that. Too many people want a title rather than want to make a difference in serving the state.”
Trust and relationships
Rhoden said his faith is what makes him effective as governor.
“Having the moral compass of speaking the truth all the time and putting that ahead of any political agenda is central for me when I talk about my ability to build relationships and bring people together. That’s all predicated upon trust and people’s trust in your integrity,” he said.
But he acknowledged he can still get frustrated and angry like he did when he served on the school board. Some of his modern colleagues have observed that.
Schoenbeck
Former Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, a Watertown Republican, said he’s gone “toe to toe” with Rhoden behind closed doors.
“But the thing with Larry is I always knew even if we disagreed about one thing he’d have my back as far as the institution went on another thing,” Schoenbeck said.
He added that Rhoden was accessible to make deals and talk through issues during Noem’s administration when she was not. Schoenbeck expects an inclusive decision-making process if Rhoden is elected.
“Larry understands that when you live in Union Center, you can see a lot of land, but not many people,” Schoenbeck said. “He gets that he needs a lot of those other folks that come from a lot of different places and perspectives to make sure he’s making good decisions.”
Nancy Turbak Berry, a Democratic former legislator who served with Rhoden, said she has appreciated Rhoden’s commitment to civility in difficult situations. She is a plaintiff in a lawsuit attempting to invalidate anti-abortion-pill legislation that Rhoden signed into law in March.
Despite their political differences, Turbak Berry said Rhoden has been “open and respectful” to her input through the years — including her unsolicited text messages to him during his governorship and on the campaign trail.
“A lot of people in Republican politics in South Dakota have become so arrogant about the power that comes with a one-party state that they think they don’t have to deal with anybody outside of the party. A lot of people would ignore me or respond with hostility. Rhoden has never done that,” she said.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden drives his 1986 Chevy Silverado pickup on his rural Union Center ranch on June 26. South Dakota Searchlight photo by Makenzie Huber.
That dynamic has earned her vote — she temporarily switched her party affiliation ahead of the primary to vote for him, she said. She plans to vote for him again in the runoff before switching her registration back.
“I trust him,” Turbak Berry said.
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Rhoden was registered as a Democrat early in his life. Both of his parents were children of the Great Depression and “beholden,” he said, to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his Depression-era federal work programs.
“I always say I was Democrat by birth and Republican by choice,” Rhoden said, adding that Ronald Reagan, who was also a former Democrat, had the largest political influence on him as a young man.
It wasn’t until the 1990s, a few years before he made a run for the Legislature, that he switched his party affiliation to Republican.
