General election · 3 November 2026

State Senate, District 24

One candidate on the ballot. This race is unopposed.

Race type: Unopposed
Candidates: 1
Surveys returned: 0 of 1
Race receipts: $36,754

Jim Mehlhaff

Sitting legislator

RepublicanBallot order 1

Where they stand on data centers

0%protective votes — 0 of 9 tracked roll calls

Voted against residents every time

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.

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Money — a signal, never a position

$36,754Total receipts reported

$2,650Matched a flag (A–D)

AData center and Big Tech industry$1,000
BUtility, power and energy interests$1,650

Flagged donors on recordApplied Digital Corporation $1,000 [A]; SD Ethanol Producers Pac $1,000 [B]; Steve and Marla Willard $500 [B]; Ottertail Corporation $150 [B]

Committee: Jimmehlhaff For District 24 Senate.

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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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.