Marty Jackley

Jackley was raised in Sturgis, South Dakota, where he graduated from Sturgis High School in 1988.[2][4] He earned a bachelor's degree from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in 1992 (electrical engineering, according to his campaign website) and a law degree from the University of South Dakota in 1995, and then clerked for Chief Federal Judge Richard Battey, according to his campaign website.[2][4] He worked as a partner at the Rapid City firm Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP, and as a special assistant attorney general for South Dakota prosecuting controlled-substance felonies.[2][4] From 2006 to 2009 he served as U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota; his campaign website says he was appointed, unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and named Prosecutor of the Year in 2008.[2][4]

Gov. Mike Rounds (R) appointed Jackley South Dakota Attorney General on August 14, 2009, and he was sworn in on September 4, 2009. Voters elected him in 2010 and 2014, and he served until January 2019.[2] He ran for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018 and lost the June 5, 2018 primary.[2] According to his campaign website, he returned to private practice from 2019 to 2022 as a senior partner at his former firm, and served as State's Attorney for Jones and Haakon counties and as special prosecutor for the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate.[4] Jackley was elected Attorney General again in 2022 and took office January 2, 2023; his term ends January 4, 2027, and he is not seeking re-election to that office.[2][3][4]

Jackley, of Pierre, announced in June 2025 that he would run for Congress; the seat is open because Rep. Dusty Johnson is running for governor.[5][6] During the campaign, he emphasized public safety, border security and support for the Trump administration's agenda.[4] According to his campaign website, he chaired the National Association of Attorneys General in 2015, as well as the Western Attorneys General and the National Attorneys General Alliance (2023-24), was named National Attorney General of the Year in 2016, and was elected president-elect of the national attorneys general association in December 2025.[4]

His campaign website says his father, Mike Jackley, practiced law in Sturgis and served as Meade County State's Attorney, and that Jackley has a son and a daughter and spends family time at a farm near Vale and a ranch near Pierre.[4] He won the November 3, 2026 general election with 64% of the vote to Nikki Gronli's 36%, according to unofficial results reported by NBC News.[1]