South Dakota's at-large congressional district is the sole congressional district for the state ofSouth Dakota. Based on area, it is the fourth largestcongressional district in the nation.
The district is currently represented byDusty Johnson.
The district was created when South Dakota achieved statehood on November 2, 1889, as one of two for the new state. Following the1910 United States census South Dakota gained a third seat. The third district was eliminated after the1930 census. During theredistricting cycle after the1980 census, the second seat was eliminated, leaving the single at-large district that the state has had since.
IncumbentU.S. RepresentativeBill Janklow resigned the seat on January 20, 2004, after he was convicted of second-degreemanslaughter, triggering a special election. Democrat Stephanie Herseth was selected as the Democratic nominee for this special election and she defeatedRepublican Larry Diedrich with 51 percent of the vote in a close-fought election on June 1, 2004. Herseth's victory briefly gave the state its first all-Democratic congressional delegation since 1937.
In the November general election, Herseth was elected to a full term with 53.4 percent of the vote, an increase of a few percentage points compared with the even closer June special elections. Herseth's vote margin in June was about 3,000 votes, but by November it had grown to over 29,000.
Herseth thereby became the first woman in state history to win a full term in the U.S. Congress.
Both elections were hard-fought and close compared to many House races in the rest of the United States, and the special election was watched closely by a national audience. The general election was also viewed as one of the most competitive in the country, but was overshadowed in the state by the highly competitiveU.S. Senate race between DemocratTom Daschle and RepublicanJohn Thune, which Thune narrowly won.
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