Composite 6.27 / 10, weighted per the Constitutional Weight Schedule.
Below the 700 bar, Author's Verdict: not supported.
Adequate, not Sound. Rhoden's conduct is clean of the serious things, no election subversion, no court-defiance, no weaponization, no office enrichment, and he handled a major legislative defeat with institutional respect, including the minority party in the reset. But the composite lands below the support bar: the civility-brand-versus-conduct gap (the 'eat a salad' jab plus the push to fire a professor over speech) and the prison procurement's no-bid asterisk and large sunk loss are honest drags, and the tenure is too short to have earned a high mark. Falls short of support on composite, with no capping flag.
- Served in the South Dakota Army National Guard 1978–1985
- Attended the NCO academy; served as a training leader; military specialty in welding
Service is honored as context, not scored. No combat record claimed; the conduct demonstrated in office, not the uniform, drives the measures.
The 14 measures
Each measure is scored 0–10 against an anchored example, with a cited source. Hover/expand why? for the reasoning.
| # | Measure | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| M01 | Duty to Constitution & Rule of Law | 7 | why?No documented defiance of court orders, election subversion, or refusal to respect lawful process.
Ascended to office through ordinary constitutional succession (Noem resignation, Jan 2025). When his
flagship prison plan lost in the legislature in Feb 2025, he accepted the loss and stood up a public
task force rather than circumventing the body, respect for separation of powers under pressure.
Held at upper-middle (not high) because the record is short and lacks an affirmative oath-defending
stand at personal cost; it is clean, not exceptional.
[source] |
| M02 | Party Over Country | 7 | why?After his prison bill failed, he convened a 29-member 'Project Prison Reset' task force that
deliberately seated Democratic legislators (Rep. Erin Healy, Sen. Jamie Smith) alongside the
Republican majority. Working with the body that had just rejected him, and including the minority,
is genuine cross-aisle governing conduct. Solid upper-middle.
[source] |
| M03 | Persons of Equal Worth | 5 | why?The 'eat a salad' jab at Gov. Pritzker, mocking another person's body, is a documented
persons-of-equal-worth lapse, made worse because it came from a governor who branded civility as a
pillar of his administration. It is a single demeaning remark, not a pattern of casting groups as
lesser, so it sits at the middle rather than lower. Weighed as a real instance, not erased.
[source] |
| M04 | Weaponization of Justice | 6 | why?Rhoden used his official platform to publicly call for the firing of a USD professor over a social-media
post about Charlie Kirk's killing, a governor leaning the weight of his office against a state-university
employee's protected speech. A federal court later issued a TRO and the university dropped the matter; some
coverage notes his public posture may have indirectly helped surface the case. It is an appearance-concern
of pressure on a state institution to punish speech, but it did not rise to a documented retaliatory
machinery of state power (no agency directive, no contracts pulled), so it is a weighed drag, not a flag.
[source] |
| M05 | Incitement / Anti-Belonging | 6 | why?No sustained incitement or enemy-making rhetoric on record. The drag is the gap between the civility
brand and the personal-appearance mockery of a political rival, a tonal/anti-belonging lapse rather than
a pattern of casting citizens as enemies. Middle.
[source] |
| M06 | Fiduciary Conduct | 6 | why?The prison procurement drew transparency criticism, the bill required competitive bidding on
subcontracts but allowed a no-bid construction-manager-at-risk selection, and the state booked a ~$21M
loss (~$52.7M spent) on the abandoned Lincoln County site. The bulk of that was inherited from the Noem
administration, and there is no evidence of self-dealing or steering to Rhoden associates, so this is a
stewardship/transparency drag, not an enrichment finding. Middle.
[source] |
| M07 | Duty to Call Out | 6 | why?Vetoing the lab-grown-meat ban favored by parts of his own ag base, and forcing a compromise
moratorium, shows willingness to cross his coalition on a high-salience issue, met by a sustained
legislature. That is a modest within-coalition call at cost (scored as conduct, not on the policy
merits). Not a dramatic stand, so upper-middle.
[source] |
| M08 | The Discretion Test | 6 | why?The discretion test, when he could have dug in on the inherited Lincoln County plan, he relented, reset the process publicly, and let a deliberative body weigh options. A defensible exercise of executive
restraint. No abuse of discretion documented; the record is short, so middle.
[source] |
| M09 | The No-Camera Test | 6 | why?No documented private-versus-public contempt gap. The public airing of the Dusty Johnson 'tried to keep
me out of the race' dispute is an intra-party campaign conflict, unadjudicated and contested, weighed as a
neutral appearance item rather than a consistency finding. Middle, for thin record.
[source] |
| M10 | Constituent-vs-Donor Vote | 6 | why?A lifelong West River rancher and longtime legislator who governs close to his constituency's stated
priorities (property-tax relief, ag, corrections). The property-tax-for-sales-tax swap drew constituent
criticism as a tax increase, a genuine fidelity tension, but it is a contested policy tradeoff, not a
donor-over-voter breach. Middle.
[source] |
| M11 | Net-Worth Trajectory | 7 | why?No documented office-attributable enrichment, no self-dealing, family payments, or pay-to-play tied to
the governorship. Pre-office rancher/welding livelihood; raw wealth is not scored. Held just below high
only because the prison no-bid procurement leaves a transparency asterisk near the fiduciary line, though
with no evidence of personal benefit.
[source] |
| M12 | Floor Decorum | 7 | why?Generally maintains institutional decorum, accepted veto-override processes and a legislative defeat
without attacking the body, used regular special-session and task-force channels. The drag against the
decorum mark is the personal mockery of a fellow governor, which cuts against the office's dignity. Net
upper-middle.
[source] |
| M13 | Lying & Misleading | 6 | why?No sustained documented-falsehood pattern. His office disclosed the $21M prison loss figure itself, which
weighs positive for candor. Campaign-season characterizations of the tax swap are contested framing rather
than demonstrable lies. Middle.
[source] |
| M14 | Knowledge Depth | 7 | why?Deep institutional grounding, House majority leader, multi-term senator, six years as lieutenant
governor before ascending. Demonstrated working command of corrections, tax, and ag policy and the
legislative process; signed 240 bills from the 2026 session and brokered the meat-ban compromise.
Competent and substantive; upper-middle.
[source] |
Why not higher, the points withheld
The standard is the seat; the ceiling is a perfect 10. Every withheld point traces to documented conduct, weighed where the measures and attributes say it belongs, shown openly here, the same way the earned points are.
| Where | Documented conduct | Mitigation weighed |
|---|---|---|
| M03 | October 2025 'eat a salad' remark mocking Gov. Pritzker's body, from a governor who branded civility a pillar of his administration ↳ Persons of Equal Worth, demeaning remark toward a rival | Single jab, not a pattern of group dehumanization |
| M04 | Used official platform to publicly call for the firing of a USD professor over a protected social-media post; a federal TRO later blocked the firing ↳ Pressure on a state institution to punish speech | No agency directive, contracts, or retaliatory machinery; resolved without termination |
| M06 | Prison bill allowed a no-bid construction-manager-at-risk; state booked ~$21M loss (~$52.7M spent) on abandoned Lincoln County site ↳ Stewardship/transparency drag | Bulk inherited from Noem; no evidence of self-dealing; loss disclosed by his own office |
| M05 | Civility-brand-versus-conduct gap, lectured on civil discourse while mocking a rival's appearance ↳ Anti-belonging/consistency lapse in rhetoric | Not sustained incitement; no enemy-making pattern |
| M10 | Property-tax-for-sales-tax swap criticized as the largest sales-tax increase in state history ↳ Constituent-fidelity tension | Contested policy tradeoff aimed at property-tax relief, not scored on policy merits, only the fidelity tension |
The Four Pillars, worthy to be followed?
A separate axis from the 14 measures. The measures ask did their conduct meet the standard; the Pillars ask is this someone worthy to be elevated and followed at all. The two can diverge, when they do, the divergence is the finding.
| # | Pillar | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | Trust & Loyalty
| 7 | why?Attributes: Steadiness, Selfless Service, institutional loyalty, accepted a legislative defeat and a sustained veto without attacking the institutions, and serves through ordinary constitutional succession. No drag toward Collapse or open self-interest; held below high for a short, unexceptional tenure. |
| II | Aspiration & Integrity
| 6 | why?Attributes: Conviction, Authenticity, a consistent rancher-legislator public identity. Dragged toward the opposite of Consistency by the civility-brand-versus-mockery gap; no documented self-correction yet, which keeps it at the middle. |
| III | Protection & Influence
| 6 | why?Attributes: Stewardship, Accountability, restrained exercise of discretion on the prison reset and inclusion of the minority on the task force. Dragged by the speech-firing pressure and the no-bid/transparency asterisk; net middle, no documented exploitation. |
| IV | Legacy & Virtue
| 6 | why?Attributes: Integrity, candor (self-disclosed the prison loss). Too short a record for a durable legacy mark; the civility-hypocrisy and procurement drags temper an otherwise conventional, clean record. Middle. |
| TOTAL: Moderate | 25/40 |
Total 25/40, Adequate. A conventional, institutionally-respectful first-year+ governorship with honest drags around the civility brand and prison procurement, no criterion-class conduct.
What the Four Pillars are & the questions behind each →
In their own words
“Maybe he should clean up Chicago. Or at least eat a salad.”
Remark about Gov. J.B. Pritzker, criticized as undercutting his own civility brand · South Dakota Searchlight · CONTESTED · cite
“Civility will be one of the pillars of my administration.”
Stated priority upon becoming governor · South Dakota Searchlight · CIVIC · cite
Full personnel file
1. Identity
Larry Robert Rhoden (born February 5, 1959). 34th Governor of South Dakota, sworn in January 25, 2025 after Gov. Kristi Noem resigned to become U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security. Lifelong West River rancher from Union Center; SD Army National Guard 1978–1985. SD House of Representatives 2001–2009 (including House majority leader); SD Senate 2009–2015 and 2017–2019; 39th Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota 2019–2025. Republican. Headed to a July 28, 2026 GOP primary runoff against Toby Doeden for a full term.
2. Voting / Legislative Profile
Gubernatorial record (no DW-NOMINATE/Lugar applies to governors). Inherited and ultimately reset the contested men's-prison project: the Feb 2025 Lincoln County plan failed in the legislature, after which he stood up the bipartisan 'Project Prison Reset' task force and a special session. Signed 240 bills from the 2026 session; vetoed a lab-grown-meat ban (forcing a five-year-moratorium compromise) and a home-care licensing bill, both vetoes sustained. Enacted a property-tax-relief / sales-tax package that drew campaign criticism. Policy positions are noted for context and are NOT scored in either direction.
3. Constitutional Moments
Conduct-relevant moments, scored on process not policy. Accepted a flagship legislative defeat (Feb 2025) by resetting the process through a task force that included minority-party legislators rather than circumventing the body. Took office through ordinary constitutional succession. The one institutional-pressure episode, publicly urging a state university to fire a professor over protected speech, later blocked by a federal TRO, is recorded as an appearance-concern, not a court-defiance or weaponization finding.
4. Rhetoric & Discourse Profile
Generally measured public tone, with one documented self-undercutting lapse: while branding civility as a pillar of his administration, he mocked a rival governor's appearance ('eat a salad') and publicly pressed for a professor's firing over a social-media post. No pattern of incitement or enemy-making rhetoric. The drag is a civility-brand-versus-conduct gap, weighed honestly, not a sustained anti-belonging pattern.
5. Fiduciary Profile
No documented office-attributable enrichment, no self-dealing, family payments, or pay-to-play tied to the governorship; pre-office rancher/welding livelihood, and raw wealth is not scored. The fiduciary asterisk is the prison procurement: a no-bid construction-manager-at-risk provision and a ~$21M loss (~$52.7M spent) on the abandoned Lincoln County site, the bulk inherited from the Noem administration, disclosed by his own office. A stewardship/transparency concern, not an enrichment breach.
6. Severity-Class Conduct
No documented Severity-class conduct under any criterion. No election subversion, no defiance of binding court orders, no retaliatory state machinery rising to constitutional scale, no incitement pattern. The university-firing advocacy is a weighed appearance-concern that resolved against termination. Flag count: zero.
7. What The Framework Says
Larry Rhoden's record is that of a conventional, institutionally-respectful governor in a short tenure: he accepted a major legislative defeat gracefully, included the minority party in his reset, exercised veto power within ordinary bounds, and shows no criterion-class conduct. The honest drags are real but contained, a civility brand undercut by a personal jab and a speech-firing push, and a prison procurement with a no-bid asterisk and large sunk loss largely inherited from his predecessor. Adequate: clean of the serious things, marked down for the civility-hypocrisy and transparency concerns, with too short a record to earn a high mark.
8. Sources & Where To Look Deeper
Tier 1 (primary): Official South Dakota Governor's Office · South Dakota Legislature (legislator profile)
Tier 2: South Dakota Searchlight · Ballotpedia
Research links: Official SD Governor page · Ballotpedia · National Governors Association · Wikipedia
Scores derive from the fixed Constitutional Weight Schedule. The bar does not move. Conduct, not party.