state senate districtSouth Dakota 1st State Senate District
presidential margin
2004–2024 · Democratic minus Republican
2004R+8.0
2008D+9.4
2012R+1.4
2016R+23.3
2020R+22.0
2024R+26.4
full record · 1892 → 2024
presidential returns
2024 turnout 100%+ of 19,358 citizens 18+
Year
Democrat
Republican
Others
Total
CVAP
Turnout
2024
8,835
15,346
464
24,645
19,358
100%+
2020
9,621
15,187
546
25,354
20,000†
100%+
2016
8,171
13,582
1,449
23,202
19,881†
100%+
2012
11,331
11,665
624
23,620
19,473†
100%+
2008
13,826
11,403
448
25,677
18,957†
100%+
2004
12,532
14,752
380
27,664
18,440†
100%+
† Citizen voting-age population estimated for prior cycles from the constituent-county ACS trend anchored to the current figure. Source: ACS 5-year, table B05003. Election totals and ACS CVAP use different vintages; the resulting turnout can exceed 100%.
——
D+60R+60
18922024
Boundary by 2024 margin · Precinct returns · VEST · MIT Election Lab
People and households
Who lives here
Exact values for this place, its state, and the United States.
Race · ethnicity · ancestry
Communities and origins
GroupSD SD 1South DakotaUnited States
German38.0%33.1%12.5%
Norwegian13.4%10.4%—
English6.3%7.7%9.5%
Irish5.9%9.9%9.4%
American3.6%4.4%5.3%
Swedish2.4%2.5%—
Dutch1.7%3.4%—
Russian1.7%——
Turtle Mountain Chippewa0.5%——
Mexican1.5%2.6%11.3%
Puerto Rican0.6%0.4%1.8%
Guatemalan0.3%0.5%0.5%
Cuban0.3%—0.7%
Hispanic or Latino counts residents of any race; the race groups count only their non-Hispanic residents, so the groups are mutually exclusive and sum to 100%. Expand a row to see ancestries reported within that group.
Age and life stage
Measure
SD SD 1
South Dakota
United States
Median age
41.3
38.2
39.1
Age 18–24
9.4%
9.2%
9.2%
Age 65 and older
19.5%
18.0%
17.2%
Household economy
Measure
SD SD 1
South Dakota
United States
Median household income
$73,861
$75,081
$84,427
Poverty rate
11.5%
12.0%
12.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher (25+)
29.6%
31.9%
35.6%
Languages at home
Measure
SD SD 1
South Dakota
United States
Speaks a non-English language at home
6.1%
7.1%
22.3%
Spanish
2.4%
2.6%
13.6%
German or other West Germanic
1.2%
0.8%
0.5%
Religious landscape
Measure
SD SD 1
South Dakota
United States
Catholic
—
14.8%
18.6%
Evangelical Protestant
—
20.1%
16.5%
Unclaimed / not counted
—
44.9%
51.5%
American Community Survey 2024 5-year (CVAP, income, age, poverty, education, language, race, ancestry) · presidential returns from MIT Election Lab through 2024 · 2020 U.S. Religion Census (ASARB) — congregational adherents; unclaimed is the residual not counted by congregations.
South Dakota 1st State Senate District
presidential history
Presidential margin, 1892–2024
Democratic minus Republican, by election
Presidential margin over time
Year
Margin (D minus R)
1892
−33.3%
1896
+1.3%
1900
−15.7%
1904
−50.9%
1908
−25.0%
1912
+42.5%
1916
−6.6%
1920
−44.4%
1924
−45.6%
1928
−13.5%
1932
+34.0%
1936
+30.5%
1940
+5.2%
1944
+2.9%
1948
+12.8%
1952
−22.3%
1956
−3.2%
1960
+0.8%
1964
+25.9%
1968
+5.3%
1972
+5.8%
1976
+12.9%
1980
−22.7%
1984
−17.3%
1988
+4.1%
1992
+6.4%
1996
+9.5%
2000
−10.4%
2004
−8.0%
2008
+9.4%
2012
−1.4%
2016
−23.3%
2020
−22.0%
2024
−26.4%
DemocraticRepublican
38 presidential elections
Third column names the leading third-party or independent finisher. Source · MIT Election Lab · ICPSR · VEST (precinct-level 2024). Swing · margin change from the prior cycle. vs U.S. · margin relative to the national result that year. † 2004, 2012 sub-county results are estimated: the source's block-level detail for these cycles was unreliable — either county/municipality-level consolidated reporting (COVID-era) or a precinct-to-block allocation that misplaced votes — so the figures are allocated from the constituent county totals in proportion to the place and scaled to certified totals.
Year
Won
Democratic
Republican
Other
Margin
Swing
vs U.S.
Total
R
35.8%Harris8,835
62.3%Trump15,346
1.9%
R+26.4
R+4.5
R+24.9
24,645
R
37.9%Biden9,621
59.9%Trump15,187
2.2%
R+22.0
D+1.4
R+26.4
25,354
R
35.2%Clinton8,171
58.5%Trump13,582
6.2%
R+23.3
R+21.9
R+25.4
23,202
R
48.0%Obama11,331
49.4%Romney11,665
2.6%
R+1.4
R+10.9
R+5.3
23,620
D
53.8%Obama13,826
44.4%McCain11,403
1.7%
D+9.4
D+17.5
D+2.2
25,677
R
45.3%Kerry12,532
53.3%Bush14,752
1.4%
R+8.0
D+2.3
R+5.6
27,664
R
43.7%Gore10,644
54.1%Bush13,167
2.2%
R+10.4
R+19.9
R+10.9
24,355
D
49.4%Clinton12,337
39.9%Dole9,958
10.7%
D+9.5
D+3.1
D+1.0
24,963
D
42.1%Clinton11,192
35.7%Bush9,488
22.1%
D+6.4
D+2.3
D+0.9
26,560
D
51.8%Dukakis13,611
47.7%Bush12,524
0.6%
D+4.1
D+21.4
D+11.9
26,281
R
41.2%Mondale11,244
58.5%Reagan15,966
0.4%
R+17.3
D+5.4
D+0.9
27,314
R
35.1%Carter10,087
57.8%Reagan16,623
7.1%
R+22.7
R+35.7
R+13.0
28,754
D
56.1%Carter15,141
43.2%Ford11,653
0.7%
D+12.9
D+7.1
D+10.9
26,979
D
52.7%McGovern14,604
46.9%Nixon12,995
0.4%
D+5.8
D+0.5
D+29.0
27,712
D
50.5%Humphrey13,086
45.2%Nixon11,705
4.4%
D+5.3
R+20.6
D+6.0
25,919
D
63.0%Johnson16,864
37.0%Goldwater9,925
0.0%
D+25.9
D+25.1
D+3.3
26,789
D
50.4%Kennedy14,531
49.6%Nixon14,302
0.0%
D+0.8
D+4.0
D+0.6
28,833
R
48.4%Stevenson14,202
51.6%Eisenhower15,152
0.0%
R+3.2
D+19.1
D+12.2
29,354
R
38.8%Stevenson11,380
61.2%Eisenhower17,913
0.0%
R+22.3
R+35.1
R+11.5
29,293
D
55.5%Truman14,319
42.7%Dewey11,014
1.9%
D+12.8
D+9.9
D+8.3
25,815
D
51.5%Roosevelt12,350
48.5%Dewey11,653
0.0%
D+2.9
R+2.3
R+4.6
24,003
D
52.6%Roosevelt15,973
47.4%Willkie14,389
0.0%
D+5.2
R+25.3
R+4.7
30,361
D
63.8%Roosevelt17,392
33.3%Landon9,076
2.9%
D+30.5
R+3.5
D+6.2
27,267
D
64.5%Roosevelt17,901
30.5%Hoover8,457
5.0%
D+34.0
D+47.5
D+16.2
27,751
R
42.6%Smith10,903
56.1%Hoover14,363
1.3%
R+13.5
D+32.1
D+4.0
25,602
R
7.2%Davis1,016
52.8%Coolidge7,486
40.1%
R+45.6
R+1.2
R+20.4
14,186
R
11.5%Cox2,364
55.9%Harding11,505
32.6%
R+44.4
R+37.9
R+18.3
20,567
R
42.7%Wilson5,306
49.3%Hughes6,119
8.0%
R+6.6
R+49.0
R+9.7
12,412
O
42.5%Wilson4,357
0.0%Taft0
57.5%
Roosevelt +15.0
D+67.5
D+22.9
10,254
R
33.2%Bryan3,584
58.2%Taft6,275
8.5%
R+25.0
D+25.9
R+15.4
10,779
R
19.6%Parker2,089
70.4%Roosevelt7,526
10.0%
R+50.9
R+35.2
R+31.2
10,685
R
40.6%Bryan4,324
56.3%McKinley5,997
3.1%
R+15.7
R+17.1
R+8.2
10,648
D
50.2%Bryan4,455
48.8%McKinley4,336
1.0%
D+1.3
D+34.6
D+7.4
8,880
R
11.8%Cleveland797
45.1%Harrison3,043
43.1%
R+33.3
—
R+34.9
6,751
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current representation
Current officeholders
RMichael RohlState Senate · 1
State legislative officeholder from OpenStates nightly current-legislator data.
Covering a stretch of northeastern South Dakota, this rural district delivered a 23-point presidential margin in 2024, consistent with the broader trend of sparsely populated Great Plains constituencies anchoring heavily toward one party over the past decade.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 42.5 points in 1912 and a Republican high of 50.9 points in 1904. Between 2020 and 2024 the district moved 4.5 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 26.4 points.
A population of 26,600, a 75% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $73,861 describe the district. The district's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of State Senate District 3 and State Senate District 25.
Akashic
Political twins — state-senate districts
The state-senate districts whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
South Dakota 1st State Senate District. Akashic. https://akashic.app/sld-upper/46001/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
How did South Dakota 1st State Senate District vote in 2024?
In 2024, South Dakota 1st State Senate District voted Republican by 26.4 points (R+26.4), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 24,645 votes cast, 8,835 went Democratic and 15,346 went Republican.
When did South Dakota 1st State Senate District last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which South Dakota 1st State Senate District voted Democratic was 2008.
How many people live in South Dakota 1st State Senate District?
South Dakota 1st State Senate District has a population of 26,600 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in South Dakota 1st State Senate District?
Median household income in South Dakota 1st State Senate District is $73,861 — below the national median of $80,734. The South Dakota state median is $75,081.
What is the political history of South Dakota 1st State Senate District?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in South Dakota 1st State Senate District from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 15 went Democratic and 18 went Republican.
