De Smet, South Dakota is a small rural town located in Kingsbury County with a population of 1,227, according to the most recent census. Despite its size and remote location, politics still play an important role in the community. The city has a mayor-council form of government with the mayor being elected by popular vote every two years. In addition to the mayor, there are five council members who also serve two-year terms and are elected at large. Within De Smet’s governance structure are various commissions and boards that help to provide services and ensure that citizens have access to resources such as water, sewer and community safety plans. Local political candidates run for office on platforms of reducing taxes while improving services in order to provide better quality of life for all members of the community. Recent initiatives include infrastructure projects, preserving historic sites, providing economic development opportunities, and maintaining good relations with neighboring towns.
The political climate in De Smet, SD is strongly conservative.
Kingsbury County, SD is very conservative. In Kingsbury County, SD 29.5% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 68.5% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Kingsbury county remained overwhelmingly Republican, 68.5% to 29.5%.
Kingsbury county voted Republican in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
De Smet, SD is strongly conservative.
Kingsbury County, South Dakota is very conservative.
South Dakota is strongly conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
De Smet, South Dakota: R R r R R R
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in De Smet, SD
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 8 contributions totaling $400 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $50 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 29 contributions totaling $12,171 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $420 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)