Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden listens to Gov. Kristi Noem during her 2023 budget address on the House floor of the South Dakota Capitol on Dec. 5, 2023. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight)
State lawmakers from across the political spectrum are expressing confidence in Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden while he prepares to potentially succeed Gov. Kristi Noem early next year. They’re also wondering who Rhoden might choose as his own lieutenant governor.
Meanwhile, Rhoden himself has said little publicly, except to provide a statement congratulating Noem on her recent nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The nomination won’t officially be sent to the U.S. Senate until Trump takes office in January, the same month South Dakota’s Legislature will convene for its annual lawmaking session in Pierre.
State Senator-elect Jamie Smith, D-Sioux Falls, served previously in the Legislature and ran against Noem for governor in 2018.
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