Heather Baxter

Baxter describes herself as a lifelong South Dakotan and a small-business owner in Rapid City and Custer.[4] She has also worked as a strength and flexibility coach for older adults.[1][4] She has served on the Pennington County Republican executive board and says she has volunteered at local shelters, her children's schools and a church childcare ministry.[4]

Baxter was elected to the South Dakota House in November 2024 and represents District 34 in Pennington County.[4][3] She announced her candidacy for secretary of state in September 2025, when she was challenging incumbent Monae Johnson.[3] She lost her June 2, 2026, Republican primary for re-election to the House, but won the secretary of state nomination at the Republican convention, defeating Johnson.[1][2]

Baxter supports hand-counted paper ballots and improved audits, and she co-sponsored a bill to prohibit automatic tabulating machines.[1] She says that as secretary of state she would work with county auditors rather than eliminate the machines on her own.[1] Her campaign site says only 4 of South Dakota's 66 counties can fully audit elections through cast vote records and promises to give every county the audit tools and training, to enforce the state's proof-of-citizenship laws, and to pursue campaign finance reporting reform and an "SD DOGE" to cut regulation for small businesses.[4]