Hey, Republican fence-sitters! If you’re still trying to think of a reason to vote for Larry Rhoden in your party’s gubernatorial runoff, how about the fact that Toby Doeden is an insulting jerk?
Consider Doeden’s classless and baselsss attempt to brand Governor Rhoden and Lieutenant Governor Tony Venhuizen as something they absolutely aren’t:
On Monday, Rhoden cited historical precedent and criticized Doeden for not announcing his choice for lieutenant governor.
“This week is our state GOP Convention. Historically, this is when the Republican Lt. Governor candidate is chosen. But Toby still hasn’t picked his running mate,” Rhoden posted on his campaign’s Facebook page.
Rhoden’s post went on, “We have no idea who Doeden plans to surround himself with. Who’s his LG? Who will be in his Cabinet? He’s made some questionable hires in the past — can we really trust him to build an effective, trustworthy administration?
“I’m proud of my Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen. He stands for South Dakota values, and I’m glad he’s the man one heartbeat away from the Governor’s Office. I’m proud of my Cabinet and my staff. South Dakota voters deserve to know who Toby would put in those same positions.”
Doeden fired back the next day with a post on his campaign’s Facebook page, misstating Rhoden’s name and criticizing Rhoden for choosing Venhuizen last year as his lieutenant governor.
“Interim Governor Larry RhoBiden attacking me for having yet to make a choice for Lt. Governor is laughable,” the Doeden post began.
…“One thing is for sure: whomever I pick is going to be substantially more conservative than ‘Minnesota values’ Tony Venhuizen.”
Doeden went on to describe Venhuizen as “a power-hungry political hack looking to overthrow Larry Rhoden. He hates freedom, he is weak on crime, and he wants to fundamentally destroy the South Dakota way of life.”
“…[Rhoden] made a terrible choice in picking Minnesota Tony as his Lt. Governor. If he had picked someone better, smarter, and more conservative, his administration would have been amazing, so amazing that people probably wouldn’t have even run against him” [Bob Mercer, “Doeden and Rhoden Will Share the Stage on Friday,” KELO-TV, 2026.06.26].
I’ve called Doeden a dodo because he has said some really stupid things demonstrating his lack of knowledge about South Dakota politics and policy. I could call him Tubby because, well, he his. If I headlined every post about the Aberdeen businessman with “Tubby Dodo,” I’d at least be offering a defensibly objective description of the Aberdeen millionaire.
But “RhoBiden”? “Minnesota Tony”? Good grief—Toby Doeden can’t even tell the truth in his cheap insults.
Larry Rhoden is not Joe Biden in any meaningful way. None of his major policies—building a new state prison, offsetting property tax cuts with reserves and sales tax dollars—look like Biden policies. No one watching Rhoden speak or govern would mistake him for the 46th President.
And Tony Venhuizen—”Minnesota values”? Toby, what the fuck are you talking about?
Let me be clear: Minnesota is a nice place. I love South Dakota, but I also like Minnesota’s roads and lakes, the forests up north, the Twin Cities, their Governor (who’s a darn sight nicer guy than Toby Doeden)….
But Tony Venhuizen is not from Minnesota. I don’t think he’s ever lived in Minnesota. And whatever “Minnesota values” and “South Dakota values” may be (Are there such things? If they really exist, do they really differ?), Tony Venhuizen is the most South Dakota values guy you will ever meet.
Tony grew up in Armour. He went to South Dakota State University as a Briggs Scholar and Truman Scholar. He could have gone anywhere from there, but he chose to put his brains and heart to work for South Dakota. He got his law degree from USD. He has worked for the last four South Dakota governors. He served on the Board of Regents. He served in the Legislature for District 13. He’s on the boards of the South Dakota Historical Society Foundation and the Trail of Governors Foundation. To prove his utter devotion to and nerdiness about South Dakota, he writes a blog dedicated to the history of South Dakota governors.
Trying to brand Tony Venhuizen as too “Minnesota” is like calling Toby Doeden too polite. It’s just false.
Tony Venhuizen doesn’t want to “destroy the South Dakota way of life”; he is the South Dakota way of life, or at least one way a South Dakota life can go, a very good and admirable way.
Larry Rhoden picked Venhuizen to be his Lieutenant Governor for the same reason Kristi Noem and Dennis Daugaard picked him to chief their staffs, and for the same reason Mike Rounds picked him for the Board of Regents and to work on his first gubernatorial campaign in 2002: because Venhuizen is one of the smartest people in South Dakota.
And I’ve got to say it: as one of the smartest people in South Dakota, if Tony Venhuizen really wanted to overthrow Larry Rhoden, he’d have figured out a way to do that by now. But he doesn’t want to, and he doesn’t need to: Republicans for 25 years have recognized Venhuizen’s value to their party and to South Dakota, and Venhuizen has been happy to serve.
Republican voters, Larry Rhoden offers you as his running mate Tony Venhuizen, a smart, capable, and civil public servant who, if Larry Rhoden had to step aside, could instantly take up the duties of governing South Dakota. Toby Doeden won’t pick a better, smarter running mate, because he won’t find a better, smarter Republican in all of South Dakota. Toby Doeden will just offer you stupid insults disconnected from the reality of the character of his opponents and the real, important issues facing the state that you, Rhoden, and Venhuizen love.
Choose good government and dedication to South Dakota over cheap insults. Choose Rhoden and Venhuizen in the runoff.