Dominik Dausch of The Dakota Scout finds that Republican Senator Tamara Grove, who represents District 26 in central South Dakota from her post office box in Lower Brule, claims owner-occupied status for property tax purposes on a home in eastern Sioux Falls:
A lawmaker who represents a rural South Dakota district that includes a large swath of Indian Country has been a longtime Sioux Falls resident under a different name.
State Sen. Tamara Grove is running for a second term to represent District 26, which stretches from east of Chamberlain to the Nebraska boarder west of the Missouri River. The district encompasses the Lower Brule, Crow Creek and Rosebud Indian reservations.
According to documents obtained by The Dakota Scout, Grove has been a resident of Sioux Falls. She owns a home in the 3000 block of East 25th Street in Sioux Falls. It’s located in District 14 — represented by State Reps. Tony Kayser and Taylor Rehfeldt and State Sen. Larry Zikmund [Dominik Dausch, “Indian Country Lawmaker Claims Sioux Falls Owner-Occupied Home on Tax Filings,” The Dakota Scout, 2026.05.23].
The Minnehaha County property record shows the Sioux Falls house and lot in question held by “Fenner, Tamera R”, formerly known as “Tamera R. Enalls”. Enalls is the name the owner used when she ran for the Republican nomination for Senate in District 25, which actually included her house at the time, in 2018. The county record shows that Tamera R. Enalls bought the house from her husband Harvey Nelson Enalls Jr.
The GOP establishment spin blog swiftly posts a response from Grove’s primary opponent, Rep. Rebecca Reimer, who lists her address as the Thrivent office where she and her husband Mike work at 138 Main Street, Chamberlain:
If you want to represent District 26, you should actually live in District 26, and my opponent does not…. We raised our family here, built our business here, and I’m never leaving. For me, District 26 is home, not a political opportunity, and I humbly ask for your vote now or on June 2nd [Rep. Rebecca Reimer, press release to Dakota War College, 2026.05.23].
Senator Grove goes online with a relatively cool, calm, and collected video (cooler than my response to such a primary surprise would have been!) live from her parsonage on the bank of the Missouri River to explain where she lives and try to move on:
They say I have a residency issue. I own a home in Sioux Falls. GASP!!!!!! My children live there. I was there for 30 years. I have no idea what the wise thing to do with the house is, and guess what: I’m not going to be bullied into something rash. So, no secrets there.
I serve as a missionary in Lower Brule. So, for the former Argus Liar paid shills at Dakota Scout, I guess that means I don’t live here. Residency = 30 days. Been here since 2023. How weird!
So, moving on! Let’s talk about my voting record and what I have accomplished in my first term. Let’s talk about Reimer’s 8 years and her support of SB201 and eminent domain [Tamara Grove District 26 Senator, FB, 2026.05.23, 18:44 CDT].
…but her current husband Ian, clearly not moving on, jumps onto the Senator’s FB page just before midnight and invokes The Lord:
With the primary just a week away, some are questioning Tamara’s residency in District 26.
The truth is plain: Tamara was raised in Miller, South Dakota. For over three years, we have lived, worked, and built community full-time right here on the Lower Brule Reservation.
As Assemblies of God missionaries, we live in the church parsonage and pastor our church, the Hope Center of Lower Brule. Over the years, we’ve offered regular services and held weekly Christ-centered meetings for men, women, and children.
While the church owns the parsonage and leases the land from the tribe, we’ve poured our own money and time into rebuilding the parsonage from the inside out. This is truly our home, from cultivating our big gardens to caring for our little flock of chicken friends. 🐓
We chose to follow God and serve this community long before politics called. Tamara served her last Senate term without issue, working hard for the towns, ranches, and tribal lands across District 26.
She is not a career politician. Instead, she is a woman answering God’s call both here in the neighborhood and in Pierre. Owning a property in Sioux Falls changes nothing about where we have planted our roots and live our daily lives.
Dropping this story one week before the primary is a clear political tactic. It is timed to sow doubt and deflect from how the opposition has voted against the people. With all the money they’ve spent attacking her, Tamara must be doing something right. But no last-minute claim can erase her record of steady, principled service.
As Micah 6:8 says: “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
It is ironic to attack community servants who simply followed Christ’s call to love their neighbors and plant deep roots. Despite the noise, our hearts stay steady. We remain focused on what truly matters for District 26. Tamara has my full support. Thanks for your prayers [Ian Grove, Tamara Grove District 26 Senator FB, 2026.05.23 23:53 CDT].
O.K., Ian is an anti-vaccine nut, so maybe keep him off the campaign social media.
But the Groves confirm Dausch’s story: while Senator Groves lives and works now in District 26, she still owns a home in a different district on which she claims the tax benefits of owner-occupied status when she, the owner does not occupy it.
Now the problem is not that Grove isn’t qualified to represent District 26 in the Senate. The only residency requirement for legislators (SD Const Art. 3 Sec. 3) is that they live in the district they represent and that they have lived in South Dakota for at least two years before they are elected. Senator Grove has those two points covered.
The problem is that Grove is breaking property tax law. SDCL 10-13-39 says, among other things, that “A person may only have one dwelling, which is the person’s principal place of residence as defined in § 12-1-4, classified as an owner-occupied single-family dwelling.” SDCL 12-1-4 deals with voting residence. A homeowner can only claim owner-occupied status at the address at which the owner registers to vote.
According to the Secretary of State, Tamara Grove is registered to vote on Gall Street in Lower Brule, Legislative District 26B, Precinct 07. The only house at which Tamara Grove can legally claim owner-occupied status to lower her property taxes is on Gall Street in Lower Brule, not East 25th St. in Sioux Falls.
I appreciate Senator Grove’s difficulty in figuring out how to maintain an affordable house for her grown children in Sioux Falls while living in a parsonage and serving her church’s calling. I appreciate her desire not to pushed into a rash decision by a political brouhaha. But the wise thing for her to do is get the deed off her hands before Minnehaha County invokes SDCL 10-13-40.3:
Any person who receives an owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification by misrepresenting the facts as to the person’s ownership or occupancy of the dwelling shall be assessed a penalty equal to ten dollars per thousand dollars of valuation on the subject dwelling, which assessment shall become a perpetual lien on the property pursuant to § 10-21-33. The person shall be barred from receiving the owner-occupied single-family dwelling classification for any property in the state for the following three years. [SDCL 10-13-40.3, enacted 1996].
On a house with a 2026 assessed value of $251,206, improperly securing owner-occupied status could incur a penalty of $2,510. (And no, Tamara, even though this story is becoming part of your campaign, you can’t deem a property tax penalty as a legitimate campaign expense and use the $5,369.78 you reported in your campaign coffers last week to cover it.)
I have no reason to doubt that Tamara Grove lives in District 26, has lived there for the entirety of her first term in the Senate, and is legally qualified to represent District 26 again. But that qualification, complete with voter registration at a Lower Brule address, disqualifies her from paying lower taxes on a house in Sioux Falls which she owns but does not occupy. Absent some allowance for religious missionaries that I can’t find in state law, Grove needs to either transfer her Sioux Falls property to the current occupants or pay higher taxes on that house to Minnehaha County.
How an Earth hater can win in that district is the real mystery to this interested party.