The American Conservative Union Foundation conducts an annual, in-depth analysis to rate all 8,000 lawmakers in America, revealing their positions on a wide variety of issues directly affecting our communities and families.

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ACU to Present Awards to Top-Scoring South Dakota Lawmakers at CPAC

New Analysis Reveals SD Lawmakers Trending More Conservative 

ALEXANDRIA, VA (March 24, 2022)— The American Conservative Union and CPAC have recognized forty-seven state lawmakers for their conservative voting records off a just released analysis by ACUF’s Center for Legislative Accountability.

Click Here to view the Ratings of South Dakota

The following members of the South Dakota State Legislature earned either the Award for Conservative Excellence for voting with the conservative position at least 90% of the time or the Award for Conservative Achievement for voting with the conservative position at least 80% of the time:

Senate:

John Wilk (87%)

Joshua Klumb (87%) Al Novstrup (84%)

Margaret Sutton (84%)

Jim Stalzer (83%)

Julie Frye-Mueller (81%)

Gary Cammack (81%)

Jessica Castleberry (81%)

Brock Greenfield (81%)

Marsha Symens (81%)

House:

Scott Odenbach (94%)

Bethany Soye (93%)

Phil Jensen (93%)

Drew Dennert (90%)

Randy Gross (90%)

Taffy Howard (90%)

Arch Beal (88%)

Aaron Aylward (88%)

Charlie Hoffman (87%)

Kevin Jensen (87%)

Chris Johnson (87%)

J. Sam Marty (87%)

Liz May (87%)

Rhonda Milstead (87%)

Marty Overweg (87%)

Carl Perry (87%)

Sue Peterson (87%)

Tom Pischke (87%)

Marli Wiese (87%)

Kaleb Weis (86%)

Fred Deutsch (84%)

Mary Fitzgerald (84%)

Jon Hansen (84%)

Chris Karr (84%)

Ernie Otten (84%)

Tony Randolph (84%)

John Mills (83%)

Tamara St. John (81%)

Rocky Blare (81%)

Kirk Chaffee (81%)

Tim Goodwin (81%)

Spencer Gosch (81%)

Steven Haugaard (81%)

Tina Mulally (81%)

Rebecca Reimer (81%)

Richard Vasgaard (81%)

Caleb Finck (80%)

The American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF) analysis reveals South Dakota voting more conservatively during the 2021 session, with Senate Republicans’ voting with the conservative position an average of 73.4% of the time, compared to 66.91% the prior session and House Republicans’ voting with the conservative position an average of 78.61% of the time, compared to 74.04% the prior session.

Click Here to view the PDF version of the ratings 

Among the 62 roll call votes scored by the ACUF is the legislation providing a crucial check on governmental emergency powers (SB 100), efforts to strengthen “Stand Your Ground” self-defense laws (HB 1212), legislation protecting children who survive abortion (HB 1051), and protecting women’s sports (HB 1217).

ACUF’s Ratings of Congress and Ratings of the States are initiatives of American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF)’s Center for Legislative Accountability (CLA). These ratings are designed to reflect how more than 8,000 elected officials across the nation view the role of government while illustrating the differences between chambers of the legislature and revealing lawmakers’ positions across 186 policy areas that directly affect citizens.

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Our staff spends thousands of hours analyzing more than 105,000 pieces of legislation voted on by Congress and every state legislature in the country. Your support is critical to be able to provide this level of insight and transparency. Will you please make a tax-deductible donation today to support transparency and ratings of South Dakota legislators?