South Dakota Senatorial Candidates 2016 |
General Presidential Election and Senate Election: November 8, 2016
Presidential Primary Election Day: June 7, 2016
Primary Election Day: June 7, 2016
South Dakota Senator Candidates 2016
John Thune (R)
Jay Williams (D)
Kristi Noem (R)
Paula Hawks (D)
In 14 (40.0%) of the 35 districts up for election in 2016, there is only one major party candidate running for election. A total of six Democrats and eight Republicans are guaranteed election barring unforeseen circumstances.
Two major party candidates face off in the general election in 21 (60.0%) of the 35 districts up for election.
A total of six incumbents, all Republican, face primary competition on June 7. Fifteen incumbents did not seek re-election in 2016 and another 14 incumbents will advance past the primary without opposition.
South Dakota can generally be divided into three regions: eastern South Dakota, western South Dakota, and the Black Hills. The Missouri River serves as a boundary in terms of geographic, social, and political differences between eastern and western South Dakota, and the geography of the Black Hills differs from its surroundings to such an extent that it can be considered separate from the rest of western South Dakota. South Dakotans also at times combine the Black Hills with the rest of western South Dakota, and refer to the two resulting regions, divided by the Missouri, as West River and East River.
Eastern South Dakota generally features higher precipitation and lower topography than the western part of the state. Smaller geographic regions of this area include the Coteau des Prairies, theDissected Till Plains, and the James River Valley. The Coteau des Prairies is a plateau bordered on the east by the Minnesota River Valley and on the west by the James River Basin. Further to the west, the James River Basin is mostly low, flat, highly eroded land, following the flow of the James River through South Dakota from north to south. The Dissected Till Plains, an area of rolling hills and fertile soil that covers much of Iowa and Nebraska, also extends into the southeastern corner of South Dakota. Layers deposited during the Pleistocene epoch, starting around two million years ago, cover most of eastern South Dakota. These are the youngest rock and sediment layers in the state, and are the product of several successive periods of glaciation which deposited a large amount of rocks and soil, known as till, over the area.
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