(South Dakota Searchlight)-South Dakota governor candidate Toby Doeden has repeatedly pledged to eliminate or phase out property taxes, often without limiting his language to any specific type of property.
This week, amid criticism about the cost of that pledge, Doeden’s campaign spokesperson said the plan has only ever been applicable to homeowners.
That’s one of many criticisms and responses flying back and forth as the campaign for the Republican nomination for governor approaches its final week.
The runoff election on July 28 pits the first-place finisher in the June 2 Republican primary, Doeden, against second-place finisher, Gov. Larry Rhoden. Because neither received 35% in the June 2 race that also included U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson and state House Speaker Jon Hansen, Doeden and Rhoden were thrown into a runoff.
The following are fact checks with additional context to explain some of the recent criticisms that the two candidates or their supporters have launched against each other in advertising and on social media.
Property taxes
Doeden’s campaign website says he will eliminate property taxes “so that you can raise your family, operate your farm or ranch, and grow your business.”
He told Rapid City television station KOTA in December that he would “completely eliminate property taxes,” adding “farmers, ranchers, small business owners are being crippled.”
A Doeden campaign postcard mailed earlier this year carried the heading “eliminate property taxes,” without any language limiting the pledge to homeowners. The text under the heading was also devoid of qualifying language: “South Dakota residents are getting crushed under the weight of property taxes. Toby Doeden will phase out property taxes once and for all.”
Responding to those and other similar statements, Rhoden has interpreted Doeden’s property tax plan as being applicable to all classes of property — residential, agricultural and commercial. Collectively, they contribute about $1.8 billion of property tax revenue to counties, cities, schools and other smaller units of local government in the state.
Rhoden alleges that eliminating all of that revenue would require the state to replace it, and would blow a $1.8 billion hole in the state budget. The Rhoden campaign recently released ads and launched a “Reckless Toby Doeden” website making those assertions.
In response to that criticism, Doeden’s campaign spokesperson Matt Hurley said this week that Doeden’s plan has never applied to any classes of property beyond owner-occupied homes. They produce about $815 million in local tax revenue. Eliminating property taxes for homeowners — and nobody else — has “always been the plan,” Hurley said.
The Rhoden campaign is not the only entity that has interpreted Doeden’s pledges as applying to all property classes.
On Thursday, a coalition of South Dakota business groups issued a press release expressing concern about Doeden’s property tax proposal, arguing it would require funding cuts for counties, cities and schools, and would ultimately require new taxes to replace the lost revenue. The release described the coalition’s understanding of Doeden’s plan as “the elimination of nearly $2 billion in local property taxes,” indicating all classes of property.
Ryan Budmayr is president of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry, a member of the coalition. When informed of Hurley’s statements, Budmayr said they reflect a lack of clarity in Doeden’s plan and messaging.
“We’re talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, whether it’s homeowners or all property taxpayers,” Budmayr said.
Lab-grown meat
On another topic, the Dakota First Action political action committee, which Doeden founded, has sent text messages to voters describing Rhoden as “Lab-Grown Larry,” saying Rhoden “supports lab-grown meat” because he vetoed legislation that would have permanently banned its manufacture and sale in the state.
Rhoden, a rancher, did veto a bill during the most recent legislative session that would have effectively banned lab-grown meat by classifying it as an adulterated food. In his veto message, Rhoden said he personally opposes cell-cultivated meat, writing that “you won’t catch me eating these products.”
He argued that a permanent ban could invite legal challenges, could cause other states to adopt restrictions on their markets for South Dakota crops or livestock, and could overstep state authority by usurping the federal government’s role in food safety.
As a compromise, Rhoden supported and signed into law a five-year moratorium on lab-grown meat to allow more time to study the emerging industry.
Rhoden spokesperson Ian Fury responded with a statement to South Dakota Searchlight questions about Dakota First Action’s criticism.
“As Governor Rhoden has said many times, you’ll never catch him eating cell-cultured protein, but it’s against our principles to ban something just because we don’t like it,” Fury said.
Abortion
Another Dakota First Action text message to voters says “the pro-abortion lobby is officially supporting Larry Rhoden,” citing a $4,000 contribution to Rhoden’s campaign from the law office of Watertown attorney Nancy Turbak Berry. She’s a Democratic former legislator who helped lead the campaign supporting an unsuccessful 2024 abortion-rights ballot question.
“Radical Democrats are footing the bill for Larry Rhoden’s campaign,” the message reads.
Turbak Berry told Searchlight the law office is run by her sons, that she has a small ownership stake, is partially retired, and was not consulted before the firm gave $4,000 to Rhoden’s campaign.
Turbak Berry said she temporarily switched her party affiliation to Republican in order to vote for Rhoden, based partly on the respect he’s shown her despite their policy disagreements.
“Larry Rhoden and I have never agreed and will never agree on the issue of reproductive rights,” Turbak Berry said.
When Rhoden was a legislator, he cosponsored South Dakota’s abortion ban, which has one exception for abortions necessary to save the life of the mother.
He signed legislation earlier this year prohibiting abortion-pill distribution and advertising, and Turbak Berry is suing in an attempt to block that bill from becoming law. At the bill-signing ceremony earlier this year was the anti-abortion group South Dakota Right to Life. In response to the messaging by Dakota First Action, the group issued a statement.
“Larry Rhoden’s decades-long record on LIFE is 100% pro-life,” the statement reads. “Don’t let misinformation tell you otherwise. South Dakota Right to Life is not endorsing a candidate, simply stating the facts.”
Property rights
Doeden’s campaign sent out text messages to Republican voters this week saying “the carbon pipeline scam is BACK in South Dakota.”
“Larry Rhoden hosted a campaign event alongside Dan Lederman,” the messages said. “Dan was the lead lobbyist on behalf of Summit Carbon Solutions, and their attempt to force their way onto private land.”
Summit planned to collect carbon dioxide from ethanol plants in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota and North Dakota, and transport it via pipeline for underground sequestration in North Dakota, to capitalize on federal tax credits incentivizing the prevention of heat-trapping atmospheric emissions. Lederman did public relations for the company in South Dakota.
Opposition to the project caused a political property-rights revolt. It culminated in Rhoden signing a bill into law last year banning carbon dioxide pipelines from using eminent domain, which is a legal process for gaining access to private land. That law has so far kept Summit out of the state, and its latest route does not include South Dakota.
The event referenced in the Doeden campaign text messages was a Union County Republican Party meet-and-greet hosted at the Dakota Dunes Country Club by Lederman, the county party chairperson.
Lederman said he did urge voters at the event to support Rhoden, but Lederman and Fury said the event had nothing to do with Summit or the pipeline proposal.
