The People's Work

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The People's Work

By: Gov. Larry Rhoden

January 9, 2026

As I write this, we are just a few days from the convening of the 101^st session of the South Dakota State Legislature. Before serving as Lieutenant Governor and now Governor, I was a legislator for 16 years, including in several leadership roles. When I was first elected House Majority leader, I oversaw a caucus of 52 members with a wide range of experience and wisdom - and many different ideas on how to solve problems.

That's the beauty of our citizen Legislature. 105 South Dakotans with a wide variety of backgrounds from across the state come to Pierre, serve for less than 40 days, then go home and live with the laws that they passed. Then, if anything needs to be fixed, they come back next year and do it again.

Our legislators might not agree on every issue, and they certainly won't all agree with me 100% of the time. But if we can wrangle all those many perspectives into solutions for the people of South Dakota, then we will be in great shape.

South Dakota is a pretty special place. Our strength lies in our people. Our work matters because of the people of South Dakota. After all, "Under God, the People Rule."

This session, I am committed to doing the people's work, and I trust that our legislators are, as well. So, in a few days when I help kick off legislative session with my State of the State Address, I will begin by recommitting to civility this session and encouraging my fellow public servants to do the same.

South Dakota has become a beacon to the rest of the nation. Our people have tremendous opportunities because we keep South Dakota strong, safe, and free. We've protected opportunity for all South Dakotans to live, work, raise their families, and do business.

My State of the State Address will celebrate the things that make South Dakota special, and it will paint a vision for ways that we can make South Dakota even stronger. We've got it pretty good here; we just need to do a few commonsense things to keep our state strong, safe, and free.

For as long as I have the honor to serve as your Governor, I will continue to make sure our people are blessed to live in the freest state in a nation founded on the principle of freedom. God bless you all!

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