By 
Mike Rounds wants another six years in the United States Senate.
The two-term senator and former South Dakota governor has announced his candidacy in South Dakota’s 2026 Senate contest, formally launching a long-expected bid for a third term on Capitol Hill.
“This has never been about me, and it never was. It’s about our kids, our grandkids and the responsibility we share to leave them something better,” Rounds said in a campaign kickoff video released Thursday by his Senate campaign office. “I’m asking for the opportunity to keep doing the work you sent me to do so we can leave our state and our nation better than we found it.”
“My dad always said leave things better than you found them and stay until the job is done. I’m running for re-election to keep doing the work South Dakota sent me to do. Working with President Trump, we’ve secured our border, put money back into your pockets and achieved peace.”
A Pierre native who spent eight years in the governor’s mansion before winning a crowded GOP primary election on his way to the U.S. Senate in 2014, Rounds serves on several committees: Appropriations, Armed Services, Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Indian Affairs and the Select Committee on Intelligence. He has promoted a strong artificial intelligence program, which he says is key to everything from military readiness to producing better health care outcomes.
His candidacy comes with the backing of President Donald Trump and puts to rest what little, if any, doubt remained that he would run for another term in Washington.
In June, Trump heaped praise on South Dakota’s junior senator via social media. He noted that he loved the state of South Dakota in a Truth Social post, a state he “WON BIG, in 2016, 2020 and 2024!” Trump said in the post.
“An America First Patriot, Mike is fighting tirelessly to Advance the Great Values of the Mount Rushmore State, Champion our Farmers and Ranchers, Strengthen the Economy, Cut Taxes and Regulations, Promote MADE IN THE U.S.A., Ensure American Energy DOMINANCE, Help Secure our already Highly Secure Border, Support our Brave Military, Veterans, and Law Enforcement, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment,” Trump wrote.
The endorsement came as Rounds had faced intra-party pressure to resist support for a $9 billion rescissions spending bill backed by the White House.
While Rounds remains the only Republican to declare a candidacy in the contest, challengers await the GOP’s nominee for the seat in the general election.
Brian Bengs is again running for U.S. Senate after a bid to unseat Sen. John Thune as the Democratic Party nominee in the 2022 election. This time, the retired military officer is waging his campaign as an independent candidate.
Also making a bid for the spot is businessman and former Highway Patrol trooper Julian Beaudion, a Democrat from Sioux Falls.
Rounds’ seat is one of 35 that are up in the 2026 election.
NOTE: The Dakota Scout is an independent organization with editorial decisions made without consideration to our paid advertisers.
