South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley speaks during a press conference on Dec. 19, 2025, in Sioux Falls. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – Partial Tuesday night election returns showed South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley headed for victory in the race for the Republican Party’s U.S. House nomination.
His opponent, James Bialota, of Piedmont, did not mount a prominent campaign.
With 109 of 686 precincts across the state fully reporting at 8:43 p.m., Jackley had 81% support, and Bialota had 19%. The Associated Press called the race for Jackley at 8:19 p.m. Central.
All the votes came from registered Republicans, whose primaries are closed to independents and voters from other parties.
The 55-year-old Jackley, of Pierre, began his career in public service as U.S. attorney for South Dakota from 2006 to 2009. He was the state’s attorney general from 2009 to 2019, ran unsuccessfully against Kristi Noem for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018, and won election as attorney general again in 2022.
Jackley entered the race for the state’s only seat in the U.S. House last year after Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson announced his campaign for governor.
In the Nov. 3 general election, Jackley will face Nikki Gronli, a former state director of rural development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Gronli was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Jackley’s U.S. House candidacy creates an opening for attorney general that will be filled in the general election. Party nominees for that office are not chosen by voters, but rather by delegates to state party conventions later this month.
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