Mike Rounds beat independent Brian Bengs by a wide margin to win a third term as South Dakota’s senator.
Mike Rounds is South Dakota’s junior senator, serving alongside Sen. John Thune. He has held the seat since 2015.
Rounds has spent most of his life in South Dakota public service. He grew up in Pierre, the eldest of 11 children, and worked in insurance and real estate. He served ten years in the state senate, then won the governor’s office. He was governor of South Dakota from 2003 to 2011, winning two terms.
After leaving the governor’s office, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and won. Voters returned him in 2020, and they have done so again.
This year’s race took an unusual shape. The Democratic nominee, Julian Beaudion, dropped out in August. That left Brian Bengs, a Navy and Air Force veteran who had run for the Senate as a Democrat in 2022, as an independent challenger. The Associated Press called the race for Rounds shortly after 11 p.m. Central time, with Rounds at about 61 percent to Bengs’s 39 percent.
His win matters because South Dakota’s Senate seats stay firmly Republican, even on a night when Democrats won control of the chamber.
What to watch: Rounds’s work on defense and farm issues, and how he works with a Democratic majority.
Fast facts
- Age: 72
- Party: Republican
- Office: U.S. Senator
- State: South Dakota
- Previous job: Governor of South Dakota (2003–2011)
- Called by AP: Shortly after 11 p.m. CT, Nov. 3, 2026
Part of the Zark News Election 2026 winners profile series. Winners are listed as called by the Associated Press.
