Larry Rhoden leads South Dakota's governor's race with 63.5% to Dan Ahlers's 36.5%, a 27.0-point margin (unofficial results, 100% of precincts reporting)
What's new Larry Rhoden and Tony Venhuizen (REP) leads South Dakota's governor's race with 193,334 votes (63.49%) against 111,161 (36.51%) for Dan Ahlers and Steven McCleerey (DEM) in the count of the Nov. 3 vote: unofficial results, 100% of precincts reporting (671/671 precincts; the state's final flag is not
Why it matters Larry Rhoden (Republican) received 193,334 votes (63.49%) in South Dakota's governor's race, against 111,161 votes (36.51%) for Dan Ahlers (Democrat), in unofficial results, 100% of precincts reporting (election_results #4446 and #5104).
The state certifies its results later; in this count the gap is 26.99 percentage points, or 82,173 votes.
PostNewz holds no poll average for these two candidates in this race, so this story gives no poll comparison.
PostNewz holds no Kalshi price for this race from before election day, so this story gives no market comparison.
Records: election_results #4446 and #5104, election_polls #51162.
Room for disagreement
A vote count says who won and by how much; it does not say why voters chose as they did, and a poll average measures intentions before the vote, not the result.
About the data
Every figure in this story is read from PostNewz's election_results, election_polls tables (17 rows read Nov 11, 4:31 PM UTC): Official count for South Dakota's governor's race: Larry Rhoden and Tony Venhuizen 193,334 votes (election_results #4446), Dan Ahlers and Steven McCleerey 111,161 (election_results #5104); unofficial results, 100% of precincts reporting (671/671), state final flag not set, election_results #5104, as of 11/6/2026 8:58:01 PM (state time) (state election office electionresults.sd.gov, https://electionresults.sd.gov/resultsCSV.aspx?text=All&type=SWR&map=CTY); poll average election_polls #51162 (3 polls, computed 2026-11-07T12:36:05.333Z). Written by code from those rows (pnjour2-pnj-v31, US race result story; no model prose); neutrality check passed. All dates and times are UTC.