General election · 3 November 2026

State Senate, District 18

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

Lauren Nelson

Sitting legislator

RepublicanBallot order 1

100%protective votes — 5 of 5 tracked roll calls

Stood with residents

Survey: no response recorded

The position above is drawn from roll-call votes only. This candidate has not answered the questionnaire in their own words.

$34,030Total receipts reported

—Matched a flag (A–D)

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

Committee: Laurennelsonforsenate.

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

Not a sitting legislator

DemocratBallot order 2

Nothing on record.Kay 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.

$0Total receipts reported

—Matched a flag (A–D)

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

Committee: Swihart For Sd Senate.

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

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.

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.

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.