SD Data Center TransparencyVolunteer

General election · 3 November 2026

State House, District 4

4 candidates on the ballot, listed in certified ballot order.

Race type
Contested
Candidates
4
Surveys returned
1 of 4
Race receipts
$46,214

Ryan Kohl

Not a sitting legislator

RepublicanBallot order 1

Where they stand on data centers

Nothing on record.Ryan has never held legislative office, so there are no roll calls to score.

Survey: no response recorded

With no voting record and no returned questionnaire, this page has nothing from them on data centers. Voters have no stated position to weigh.

Ask them to answer

Money — a signal, never a position

$14,710Total receipts reported
$1,900Matched a flag (A–D)
  • BUtility, power and energy interests$1,650
  • CThe PAC funnel$250

Flagged donors on recordGlacial Lakes Energy, LLC $1,000; SD Ethanol Producers Pac $500; Dusty PAC $250; Otter Tail Corporation PAC $150

Committee: Kohl for District 4.

A flag means a donor matched a category. It is not a finding that anything improper happened.

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Fred Deutsch

Not a sitting legislator

RepublicanBallot order 2

Where they stand on data centers

Nothing on record.Fred has never held legislative office, so there are no roll calls to score.

Survey: responded

“For District 4, this question directly applies to the Applied Digital data center that was proposed near Toronto in southern Deuel County. Constituents expressed concern about power and water draw, noise from cooling systems, and whether Toronto's small volunteer fire department could have handled a facility that large. People felt steamrolled too, with folks telling SDPB they had little real say while the deal took shape. There was a fairness question as well, why one out-of-state developer should get decades of tax exemptions other taxpayers don't get. When the legislature declined the sales tax exemption, Applied Digital said the project "doesn't make sense at this time" and let its land agreement lapse. That proposal is now off the table, but the underlying worry that AI and its infrastructure are moving faster than our laws, continues to be a concern.”
“I supported Senate Bill 135, the Data Center Bill of Rights, now law in South Dakota, putting guardrails in place to protect our electric grid and natural resources. These standards require companies to pay for their own electric infrastructure, disclose and get local sign-off on water use, and ensure they don't pass increased utility costs onto South Dakota families. I also backed rejecting the 50-year tax break Applied Digital wanted, since I didn't believe the scale of the exemption was fair to Deuel County. If a similar proposal returns, I'll weigh it fairly. What matters most is local people need a seat at the table, there has to be transparency up front, local control over siting, and costs that land on the company, not on citizens. Beyond datacenter infrastructure, AI is already touching daily life in South Dakota, and we have few rules in place. I'm working on three bills for the 2027 Session: a Chatbot Minor-Safety Act stopping AI companion apps from manipulating kids into secrecy; extending SB 164's deepfake protections to cover minors bullied with fabricated images; and a Clinical AI Disclosure Act requiring patients be told when AI was used to shape a major healthcare decision. AI isn't going away. My job is making sure families are protected and a real say.”
Published verbatim as submitted

Money — a signal, never a position

$23,117Total receipts reported
—Matched a flag (A–D)

No itemized donors filed. That is not the same as having raised nothing.

Committee: Fred For House.

A flag means a donor matched a category. It is not a finding that anything improper happened.

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Emelia Enquist

Not a sitting legislator

DemocratBallot order 3

Where they stand on data centers

Nothing on record.Emelia has never held legislative office, so there are no roll calls to score.

Survey: no response recorded

With no voting record and no returned questionnaire, this page has nothing from them on data centers. Voters have no stated position to weigh.

Ask them to answer

Money — a signal, never a position

$3,887Total receipts reported
—Matched a flag (A–D)

No itemized donors filed. That is not the same as having raised nothing.

Committee: Enquist For House.

A flag means a donor matched a category. It is not a finding that anything improper happened.

How to reach them

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Samuel Froehlke

Not a sitting legislator

IndependentBallot order 4

Where they stand on data centers

Nothing on record.Samuel has never held legislative office, so there are no roll calls to score.

Survey: no response recorded

With no voting record and no returned questionnaire, this page has nothing from them on data centers. Voters have no stated position to weigh.

Money — a signal, never a position

$4,500Total receipts reported
—Matched a flag (A–D)

No itemized donors filed. That is not the same as having raised nothing.

Committee: Sam Froehlke For House.

A flag means a donor matched a category. It is not a finding that anything improper happened.

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What the flags mean

A · Data center and Big Tech
The industry itself, its lobbyists, and the trade group that testified for the 50-year tax break.
B · Utility, power and energy
Utilities, generators, transmission and the ethanol bloc — interests whose revenue rises with data center load.
C · The PAC funnel
Money arriving through a political action committee rather than directly.
D · Named individuals
People named in the underlying investigation.
E and F · Outside money
Large national spending and independent expenditure made for a candidate. Never the candidate’s own money, and never added to their receipts.

How the score is built

Roll calls on 2026 data center bills are tracked. A vote counts as protective when it sided with residents on cost, water, or local control.

Candidates with no legislative service have no score. That is shown as an absence, never as a zero.

Full roll calls and bill text: the legislative scorecard.

Correct the record

Every figure here traces to a state-published filing. If something is wrong, we want to fix it fast.

Candidates may submit a questionnaire response at any time; it is published verbatim beside the voting record.

Email corrections through the Elections page.