On September 5, all three ballot-listed candidates for U.S. House in the South Dakota at-large seat debated each other at the state fair.  The three candidates include an independent, a Democrat, and a Republican.  See this story.

South Dakota has a tradition of including minor party and independent candidates in debates.  In both 2002 and 2006, all the candidates on the ballot for the gubernatorial, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House at-large seat were permitted to debate each other.

This year, the Constitution Party is the only ballot-qualified party on the ballot, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties.  However, its only nominees on the ballot are for Secretary of State and state legislature.  The party was not able to be on the ballot for Governor, U.S. Senate, or U.S. House, because the petition to place a statewide nominee on the ballot for the party’s primary requires 250 signatures of party members, and the Constitution Party only had 315 registered members at the time the petitions were due.  The party is on for Secretary of State because, in South Dakota, party conventions, not primaries, choose nominees for that office.  The party was able to run for state legislature because the law only requires 5 signatures to get on the primary ballot for that office.

The U.S. Senate race in South Dakota this year has only one candidate on the ballot, the incumbent, John Thune.