Gov. Larry Rhoden’s west-river roots are a point of pride, but he’s looking to bring the state’s largest city on board for his gubernatorial campaign. He made his first campaign stop on the Eastern part of the state Thursday.
Gov. Rhoden held a town hall in Sioux Falls in front of a few dozen people. There he gave his pitch as to why the state’s largest city should vote to retain him.
“We’re going to continue to strengthen our economy and make our state, and Sioux Falls is part of the state," Rhoden said. "A rising tide raises all boats.”
Rhoden said from an economic standpoint, the inverse is true as well.
“Ag’s huge in South Dakota. It’s the number one industry, outpaces the number two industry by like seven-to-one. But to me all that magnifies is the fact that we need to diversify our economy in South Dakota. And Sioux Falls is the biggest economic engine outside of agriculture in the state,” Rhoden said. “And so, when Sioux Falls provides and prospers, our state does. And same with our ag industry, I don’t think there’s anyone in this room that doesn’t realize the importance of the ag industry in South Dakota regardless of what your situation is.”
Following the town hall, Rhoden and his running mate, Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen spoke to reporters.
Venhuizen lives in Sioux Falls and represented part of the city in the Legislature prior to his Lieutenant Governor appointment. He says the current administration has engaged with Sioux Falls frequently.
“The governor has been here at least once a week, and it’s a pretty constant conversation with the mayor and legislators and a lot of people,” Venhuizen said. “And we’ve seen that in our public safety efforts, economic development efforts—some of those results are known and some of them aren’t yet but will be—and then back to the property tax issue where this is, parts of Sioux Falls in particular are some of the hotspots for property tax.”
A property tax bill Rhoden plans to bring creates a local option half cent sales tax to provide property tax relief to areas that opt in. Rhoden expects that legislation could benefit Minnehaha and Lincoln County the most, along with a few counties in the Black Hills.
