PIERRE, S.D. Two Democrats from the same legislative district will take on leadership roles in each of the two chambers in Pierre next year.
Rep. Erin Healy, who has served as the assistant minority leader in the State House for the past two sessions, was selected by fellow House Democrats to be the party’s minority leader in the chamber for the next two years. She replaces outgoing Rep. Oren Lesmeister, who is leaving the House due to term limits, and opted not to run for the State Senate.
Healy will be joined by second-term lawmaker Eric Emery of Rosebud, who was picked to be the party’s new assistant minority leader in the House. Kadyn Wittman of Sioux Falls, and newly elected Nicole Uhre-Balk of Rapid City will serve as whips for the six-member House Democratic caucus.
In the Senate, Healy’s district mate Liz Larson will lead the Democrats. Larson, re-elected to her second term this year after running unopposed in both the primary and general election, replaces longtime lawmaker Reynold Nesiba as the minority leader, who is also term-limited. Former gubernatorial candidate and House member Jamie Smith, now beginning his first term in the Senate, will serve as assistant minority leader. Sen. Red Dawn Foster, the only remaining Democratic senator aside from Larson and Smith, has been named a whip.
Both Larson and Healy represent Sioux Falls’ District 10, which was redrawn in 2021 to include a Democratic majority
According to Tony Venhuizen’s SoDak Governors’ blog, this is the first time that a woman has been selected to lead the Democratic caucus, or the minority party in either of the two legislative chambers. All together, 39 women will be serving across the Legislature’s two chambers, marking the highest number of all-time, since the previous record of 31 in 2023.
Despite large GOP super majorities in the State Capitol over the last several years, Democrats lost one seat in each chamber during last week’s general election. Rep. Kameron Nelson, also from District 10, and longtime lawmaker Shawn Bordeaux were both defeated by GOP challengers. However, Democrats gained a long-targeted seat in District 32, where Uhre-Balk was the top vote getter against two Republicans.
Top leadership spots across both chambers for the two political parties has now completely turned over ahead of the 2025 session. On Friday, Republicans also elected a new slate of leaders, tabbing Scott Odenbach of Spearfish to serve as House majority leader, and Jim Mehlhaff as Senate majority leader.
