Mitchell’s Dusty Johnson ran away with the Republican primary race for U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday.
With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Johnson had received 48 percent of the vote, or 39,296 votes. South Dakota Secretary of State Shantel Krebs was in second with 28 percent (23,360) of the vote and Watertown state senator Neal Tapio had 24 percent (19,813) of the vote.
Johnson, 41, is a current executive at Vantage Point Solutions in Mitchell, a former chief of staff for Gov. Dennis Daugaard and former Public Utilities Commissioner.
Front-runner Johnson was endorsed by his former boss, Gov. Dennis Daugaard, and ran a well-funded campaign as a more traditional conservative. Krebs and Tapio aligned with President Donald Trump; Tapio, an entrepreneur, headed Trump's South Dakota campaign.
Johnson will face former judge Tim Bjorkman, of Canistota, in November’s general election for the state’s lone House seat. That seat is being vacated by Rep. Kristi Noem, who won the Republican primary for governor on Tuesday.
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Johnson was a popular pick on his home turf, pulling in 1,536 votes in Davison County, good for 66 percent of the vote from Republicans.
In an address to supporters Tuesday night from the Hilton Garden Inn in Sioux Falls, Johnson thanked his supporters and vowed to keep the push on going toward November’s general election.
“We made 15,000 get-out-the-vote calls today, and I made 300 of them,” he said. “That means there were 14,700 calls made by people not named Dusty Johnson. And they own far more of this victory than I do, and I have to say that for sure.”
