United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2008

The South Dakota Senate Election of 2008 will be held on November 4, 2008.

Incumbent senator Tim Johnson was considered a Republican target, but his strong recovery from health problems has strengthened his popularity which made recruiting strong Republican challengers difficult. The Republican nominee is Joel Dykstra, who won the June 3 primary over his primary challengers State Representative Sam Kephart and Charles Lyonel Gonyo. The filing deadline for candidates to run was March 25. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002689882 CQ Politics | Sen. Johnson Rated Safe as Recruiting Woes Hurt GOP ] ] In 2002 Senator Johnson narrowly defeated Republican candidate John Thune by 524 votes. John Thune is now a Senator after defeating incumbent Senator Tom Daschle by 4,508 votes.

"CQ Politics" rates this race as 'Safe Democrat'. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=ratings-senate Race Ratings Chart: Senate] "CQ Politics"] "The Cook Political Report" considers it 'Likely Democrat'. [ [http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/senate/raceratings_2008-10-09_12-20-35.php 2008 Senate Race Ratings] "The Cook Political Report", October 9, 2008] "The Rothenberg Political Report" considers it a 'Safe Democrat'. [ [http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2008/09/2008-senate-ratings_29.html 2008 Senate Ratings] "The Rothenberg Political Report", September 29, 2008]

Candidates

Democratic Party

*Tim Johnson - incumbent

Republican Party

*Joel Dykstra - State Representative

Lost Primary

*Charles Gonyo
*Sam Kephart

Polls

Election Results

Republican Primary

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Joel Dykstra
votes = 34,598
percentage = 65.7
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Sam Kephart
votes = 13,047
percentage = 24.8
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Charles Gonyo
votes = 4,983
percentage = 9.5
change = Election box turnout
votes = 52,628
percentage =
change =

General Election

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Tim Johnson
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Joel Dykstra
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box majority
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage =
change =

References

External links

* [http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/electionsVoteregistration_overview.shtm Elections & Voter Registration] from the South Dakota Secretary of State
* [http://www.votesmart.org/election_congress_state.php?state_id=SD&go33.x=5&go33.y=9 U.S. Congress candidates for South Dakota] at Project Vote Smart
* [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=senate-SD South Dakota, U.S. Senate] from CQ Politics
* [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/cgi-bin/r.cgi/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=6997 South Dakota U.S. Senate] from "OurCampaigns.com"
* [http://www.2008racetracker.com/page/SD-Sen South Dakota Senate race] from "2008 Race Tracker"
* [http://www.pollster.com/08-SD-Sen-GE-DvJ.php Dykstra (R) vs Johnson (D-i)] graph of multiple polls from "Pollster.com"
*"Official campaign websites"
** [http://www.joeldykstraforsenate.com/ Joel Dykstra] , Republican nominee
** [http://www.timjohnsonforsd.com/ Tim Johnson] , Democratic incumbent nominee