In ongoing primary trivia, I notice that none of the Republican gubernatorial candidates scored overwhelming victories in their home counties (hometown boys in each county in bold italics):
| statewide | votes | % |
| Doeden | 41,791 | 30.6% |
| Rhoden | 34,379 | 25.2% |
| Johnson | 31,925 | 23.4% |
| Hansen | 28,390 | 20.8% |
| total | 136,485 |
| Brown | votes | % |
| Doeden | 1,981 | 32.3% |
| Johnson | 1,734 | 28.2% |
| Hansen | 1,332 | 21.7% |
| Rhoden | 1,094 | 17.8% |
| 6,141 |
| Minnehaha | votes | % |
| Doeden | 6,446 | 28.5% |
| Johnson | 6,162 | 27.3% |
| Hansen | 5,932 | 26.3% |
| Rhoden | 4,058 | 18.0% |
| 22,598 |
| Davison | votes | % |
| Johnson | 1,194 | 37.4% |
| Doeden | 839 | 26.3% |
| Hansen | 585 | 18.3% |
| Rhoden | 573 | 18.0% |
| 3,191 |
| Meade | votes | % |
| Rhoden | 2,364 | 41.4% |
| Doeden | 1,891 | 33.1% |
| Hansen | 732 | 12.8% |
| Johnson | 727 | 12.7% |
| 5,714 |
In each gubernatorial candidate’s home county, more Republicans voted against their local boy than voted for him. In fact, no candidate won a majority in any county. Larry Rhoden drew the most support from his homefolks, winning 41.4% in Meade County. Dusty Johnson was next best homewise, getting 37.4% of his home county Davison’s vote. Toby Doeden won his home Brown County with only 32.3% of primary vote, barely distinguishable from his statewide tally of 30.6%. Doeden was actually more popular in Rhoden’s backyard than in his own.
Poor Jon Hansen couldn’t even win first place in his home county of Minnehaha. South Dakota’s most populous county was closely divided, letting none of the four candidates break 30% (eleven other counties showed this same lack of clear preference: Yankton, Walworth, Tripp, Sanborn, Miner, Lincoln, Hutchinson, Faulk, Clay, Brule, and Brookings). But Hansen finished at the bottom of Minnehaha’s close top-three-pack, one point behind Johnson and 2.2 points behind Doeden.
Hansen was the only candidate to lose his home county. Doeden was the only candidate to beat an opponent on the opponent’s home turf. But none of the candidates convinced a majority of his closest neighbors, not to mention any other county in South Dakota, that he was the best man to govern South Dakota.