A January 2025 view of the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota House Republicans selected an entirely new leadership team Monday, completing a shakeup arising from a contentious campaign season.
Mike Stevens, of Yankton, is the nominee for speaker of the House, and Amber Arlint, of Sioux Falls, is the nominee for speaker pro tempore. Taylor Rehfeldt, of Sioux Falls, will be majority leader and Drew Peterson, of Salem, will be assistant majority leader. The majority whips are Nick Fosness, of Britton; Mellissa Heermann, of Brookings; Brian Mulder, of Sioux Falls; Matt Roby, of Watertown; and Mike Weisgram, of Fort Pierre.
Rehfeldt is the first woman chosen as South Dakota’s House majority leader. In a statement to Searchlight, she said “I’m honored to be elected the first woman House majority leader in South Dakota history. It’s a milestone I’m proud of, especially as a mom to two daughters.”
“I’m grateful for the trust of my colleagues and excited about the opportunities ahead,” Rehfeldt said. “My focus will be on bringing our caucus together, providing steady leadership, and advancing common-sense conservative policies that keep South Dakota strong.”
Rehfeldt had previously served as assistant majority leader until she was ousted from that leadership post following the 2024 elections.
A Republican power struggle intensified that year, when opponents of a proposed carbon-capture pipeline helped defeat 14 incumbent Republican legislators and install new legislative leaders. The newly ascendant faction later outlawed carbon pipelines’ use of eminent domain — a legal process for obtaining land access from unwilling landowners — and worked to scale back the state’s involvement in economic development and block incentives for large data centers.
Rehfeldt worked successfully during this year’s primary campaign to elect candidates aligned with her faction of the party, and put her faction back in charge.
Rehfeldt chairs the South Dakota Republican Forward political action committee, which spent about $670,000 to influence the June legislative primaries. The state-level committee received $675,000 from the federally registered Republican Forward political action committee. Its fundraising included six-figure contributions from sources such as the Poet biofuels company, Midcontinent Media Inc., and First Premier Bank CEO Dana Dykhouse, among others.
The efforts of Rehfeldt and other allies succeeded in replacing 16 incumbent Republican legislators in June with other Republican nominees, helping set the stage for leadership changes.
The changes mirror a shift in the Senate. Republicans nominated Tim Reed, of Brookings, as Senate president pro tempore on Friday and selected Casey Crabtree, of Madison, as majority leader and Amber Hulse, of Hot Springs, as assistant majority leader. As majority whips, Republican senators selected Randy Deibert, of Spearfish; Helene Duhamel, of Rapid City; Jim Mehlhaff, of Pierre; and Stephanie Sauder, of Bryant. Mehlhaff, who was previously majority leader, and Deibert, who was already serving as a majority whip, are the only holdovers from the previous Senate leadership team.
Democrats have also selected their leadership. The Democratic members of next year’s state House chose Eric Emery, of Rosebud, as minority leader; Kadyn Wittman, of Sioux Falls, as assistant minority leader; and Nicole Uhre-Balk, of Rapid City, and Sonja Mentzer, of Sioux Falls, as minority whips. There are two Democrats in next year’s state Senate: Liz Larson, minority leader, and Erik Muckey, assistant minority leader, both of Sioux Falls.
Legislative leaders have powers and duties such as appointing committee members and committee chairs, assigning bills to committees, making their chamber’s agenda for each day of the legislative session, and leading discussions — called caucuses — among their members about party positions on legislation.
The 38-day annual legislative session begins Jan. 12 in Pierre. The overall partisan split will be 92 Republicans, 12 Democrats and one independent, with Republicans having a 33-2 advantage over Democrats in the Senate and a 59-10 advantage over Democrats in the House, with one independent in the House.
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