Attorney General of South Dakota
Seal of South Dakota
Incumbent Marty Jackley since January 3, 2023
Style	The Honorable
Term length	Four years, renewable once [1]
Formation	Constitution of South Dakota, 1889
First holder	Robert Dollard
Salary	$128,736.49 [2]
Website	https://atg.sd.gov/

The attorney general of South Dakota is the state attorney general of the U.S. state of South Dakota. The attorney general is elected by popular vote to a four-year term and holds an executive position as the state's chief legal officer. In 1992, the voters approved a constitutional amendment to limit all constitutional officers and the governor to two consecutive four-year terms.^[3][4]

Structure of the office

The South Dakota Attorney General's Office represents and provides legal advice to agencies, boards, and commissions of the government of South Dakota. The office represents the state in state and federal court, as well as in administrative adjudication and rulemaking hearings. The office handles felony criminal appeals, advises local prosecutors in the conduct of criminal trials and handles cases at the request of local prosecutors. In addition, the office issues formal opinions interpreting statutes for the agencies and political subdivisions of the state.^[5]

History

Within South Dakota, the office of attorney general is often considered a stepping stone to the office of governor.^[6] Six attorneys general, Coe I. Crawford (won 1904 and 1906), Merrell Q. Sharpe (won 1942 and 1944; lost 1946), George Theodore Mickelson (won 1946 and 1948), Sigurd Anderson (won 1950 and 1952; lost 1964), Frank Farrar (won 1968; lost 1970) and Bill Janklow (won 1978, 1982, 1994 and 1998), have each been elected governor. Meanwhile, six others, Robert Dollard (lost 1892), Mark Barnett (lost 2002), Buell Jones (lost 1928), Leo Temmey (lost 1942), Phil Saunders (lost 1958), and Marty Jackley (lost 2018), have run for governor unsuccessfully. Attorneys general and former attorneys general have a record of 13 wins and 9 losses in running for governor. A graduate of the University of South Dakota School of Law had held the office of attorney general from 1959 until 2022. South Dakota has the second longest streak of Republican attorneys general in the country, dating back to 1975 (Nebraska has had Republican attorneys general since 1951).^[7]

List of attorneys general

Parties

  Democratic (4)   Republican (27)   Populist (1)

No.	Picture	Name (Birth-Death)	Term of Office	Political Party	Law school
1		Robert Dollard (1842-1912)	1889–1893	Republican	Read law
2		Coe I. Crawford (1858-1944)	1893–1897	Republican	University of Iowa
3		Melvin Grigsby (1845-1917)	1897–1899	Populist	Read law with William Pitt Dewey
4		John L. Pyle (1860-1902)	1899–1902	Republican	Read law under Manford E. Williams
5		Adolphus W. Burtt (1832-1917)	1902–1903	Republican	Read Law under Michael E. Crofoot
6		Philo Hall (1865-1938)	1903-1907	Republican	Read law under J. O. Andrews
7		S. Wesley Clark (1872-1949)	1907–1911	Republican	Read law under Thomas Sterling
8		Royal Johnson (1882-1939)	1911–1915	Republican	University of South Dakota
9		Clarence C. Caldwell (1877-1957)	1915–1919	Republican	University of Chicago (attended) University of South Dakota (graduated)
10		Byron S. Payne (1876-1949)	1919–1923	Republican	University of Minnesota
11		Buell F. Jones (1892-1947)	1923–1929	Republican	University of South Dakota
12		Merrell Q. Sharpe (1888-1962)	1929–1933	Republican	University of South Dakota
13		D. Walter Conway (1898-1956)	1933–1937	Democratic	Creighton University
14		Clair Roddewig (1902-1975)	1937–1939	Democratic	Creighton University
15		Leo A. Temmey (1894-1975)	1939–1943	Republican	University of Minnesota
16		George T. Mickelson (1903-1965)	1943–1947	Republican	University of South Dakota
17		Sigurd Anderson (1904-1990)	1947–1951	Republican	University of South Dakota
18		Ralph A. Dunham (1906-1959)	1951–1955	Republican	University of Iowa
19		Phil Saunders (1920-1997)	1955–1959	Republican	Northwestern University
20		Parnell J. Donahue (1916-1990)	1959–1961	Democratic	University of South Dakota
21		Albert C. Miller (1898-1979)	1961–1963	Republican	University of South Dakota
22		Frank Farrar (1929-2021)	1963–1969	Republican	University of South Dakota
23		Gordon Mydland (1922-2022)	1969–1973	Republican	University of South Dakota
24		Kermit A. Sande (b. 1943)	1973–1975	Democratic	University of South Dakota
25		Bill Janklow (1939-2012)	1975–1979	Republican	University of South Dakota
26		Mark V. Meierhenry (1944-2020)	1979–1987	Republican	University of South Dakota
27		Roger Tellinghuisen (b. 1953)	1987–1991	Republican	University of South Dakota
28		Mark Barnett (b.1954)	1991–2003	Republican	University of South Dakota
29		Larry Long (b. 1947)	2003–2009	Republican	University of South Dakota
30		Marty Jackley (b. 1970)	2009–2019	Republican	University of South Dakota
31		Jason Ravnsborg (b. 1976)	2019–2022	Republican	University of South Dakota
–		Charlie McGuigan	April 12, 2022 – June 28, 2022 Acting	Republican	University of Montana
32		Mark Vargo	2022–2023	Republican	Georgetown University
33		Marty Jackley (b. 1970)	2023–Present	Republican	University of South Dakota

Elections

Elections in South Dakota
Federal government Presidential elections 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2004 2008 2016 2020 Republican 2008 2016 U.S. Senate elections 1889 1891 1894 1897 1901 1903 1903 sp 1907 1909 1913 1914 1918 1920 1924 1926 1930 1932 1936 1938 1938 sp 1942 1944 1948 1950 1954 1956 1960 1962 1966 1968 1972 1974 1978 1980 1984 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 2016 2020 2022 2026 U.S. House elections 1889 1890 1891 AL sp 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 AL sp 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 AL sp 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022
State government General elections 2010 2014 2018 2020 2022 Gubernatorial elections 1889 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Secretary of State elections 2022 Attorney General elections 2018 2022 Senate elections 2020 2022 House of Representatives elections 2020 2022
Ballot measures 2006 Amendment C 2008 Measure 9 Measure 10 2020 Amendment A Measure 26 2024 Amendment G
v t e

The voters of the U.S. State of South Dakota elect an attorney general for a four-year term. The winning candidate is shown in bold.