The Libertarian Party of South Dakota will field two candidates for public office this year, with one race giving the party a chance to extend its recognized status through the 2030 election cycle.
The party announced that delegates nominated Tamara Lesnar for secretary of state and Tracey Quint for state House District 11 at its annual convention, held this past Saturday at the Cedar Shore Resort in Chamberlain.
The Libertarian Party is currently South Dakota’s only recognized party with alternative political status, meaning it retains state recognition while accounting for less than 2.5% of registered voters. Both offices are among those South Dakota law allows the party to fill at its state convention.
Lesnar previously ran as the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate in 2022 and for state House District 1 in 2024. In biographical information shared during her Senate campaign, Lesnar said she has roots in both Chicago and rural South Dakota, with her father’s family settling in Day County after the Homestead Act and her upbringing shaped in part by regular time spent working on the family farm. She said that experience living in both metropolitan and rural communities informed her view that laws should be written with both types of communities in mind.
Quint previously served as the Libertarian Party of South Dakota’s 2022 nominee for governor, running on a ticket with Ashley Strand for lieutenant governor. Quint has also held roles within the state party and currently serves as its communications director.
According to Quint’s own earlier materials, she has lived in Sioux Falls since 2016 and grew up in the Midwest as the daughter of an Air Force veteran. She earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and photography from Morningside College and a master’s degree in communication studies from the University of South Dakota.
The state Libertarian Party is already positioned to retain its recognition through the 2028 election cycle because of Gideon Oakes’ performance in the 2024 Public Utilities Commission race. Oakes received 21,176 votes, or 5.28%, easily clearing the 2.5% threshold needed from a statewide candidate to maintain recognition under South Dakota law.
However, Lesnar is the party’s only statewide nominee this year, making her the only candidate who could refresh that status in 2026. If she receives at least 2.5% of the vote in the secretary of state race, the result would extend the party’s recognized status through the 2030 election cycle.
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