Senator Mike Rounds (R) S.D.
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – Partial Tuesday night election returns showed U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, on a path to win his party’s nomination to seek reelection.
The 71-year-old Rounds, of Fort Pierre, is finishing his second six-year term in the Senate after previously serving eight years as governor.
His opponent, Rapid City businessman Justin McNeal, did not mount a prominent campaign.
With 69 of 686 precincts across the state fully reporting at about 8:30 p.m. Central, returns showed Rounds with 77% support and McNeal with 23%. The Associated Press called the race for Rounds at 8:17 p.m. Central.
All of the votes came from registered Republicans, whose primaries are closed to independents and voters from other parties.
Rounds faces two opponents in the Nov. 3 general election: Julian Beaudion, a businessman and former Highway Patrol trooper from Sioux Falls who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination, and Brian Bengs, an Air Force veteran and former college professor who switched to independent after running unsuccessfully four years ago as the Democratic nominee against Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune.
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