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Richard Vasgaard
Richard Vasgaard (Republican Party) was a member of the South Dakota House of Representatives, representing District 16. He assumed office on January 14, 2025. He left office on August 27, 2025.
Vasgaard (Republican Party) ran for election to the South Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 16. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Vasgaard died on Aug. 27, 2025.[1]
Biography
Richard Vasgaard graduated from Centerville High School. Vasgaard earned a bachelor's degree in agronomy from South Dakota State University.[2] His career experience includes working as a farmer.[3]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2021-2022
Vasgaard was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 (2 seats)
Incumbent Karla Lems and Richard Vasgaard defeated Matt Ness in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Karla Lems (R) | 43.5 | 7,960 |
| ✔ |  | Richard Vasgaard (R) | 40.5 | 7,407 |
| Matt Ness (D) | 16.0 | 2,918 | ||
| Total votes: 18,285 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Matt Ness advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 (2 seats)
Incumbent Karla Lems and Richard Vasgaard defeated Brian Burge in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Karla Lems | 48.2 | 2,133 |
| ✔ | | Richard Vasgaard | 35.5 | 1,570 |
| Brian Burge | 16.3 | 720 | ||
| Total votes: 4,423 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Vasgaard in this election.
Pledges
Vasgaard signed the following pledges.
2022
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 (2 seats)
Karla Lems and incumbent Kevin Jensen defeated Matt Ness in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Karla Lems (R) | 41.0 | 5,951 |
| ✔ |  | Kevin Jensen (R) | 40.1 | 5,825 |
| Matt Ness (D) | 18.9 | 2,744 | ||
| Total votes: 14,520 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Matt Ness advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 (2 seats)
Karla Lems and incumbent Kevin Jensen defeated incumbent Richard Vasgaard in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Karla Lems | 35.6 | 1,848 |
| ✔ | | Kevin Jensen | 33.3 | 1,733 |
| Richard Vasgaard | 31.1 | 1,616 | |
| Total votes: 5,197 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2020
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 17 (2 seats)
Sydney Davis and Richard Vasgaard defeated Al Leber and Caitlin Collier in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 17 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Sydney Davis (R) | 31.2 | 5,278 |
| ✔ | | Richard Vasgaard (R) | 28.3 | 4,786 |
| Al Leber (D) | 21.6 | 3,645 | ||
| Caitlin Collier (D) | 18.8 | 3,181 | ||
| Total votes: 16,890 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Michelle Maloney (D)
- Caitlin Collier (Independent)
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Al Leber and Michelle Maloney advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 17.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 17 (2 seats)
Sydney Davis and Richard Vasgaard defeated Dan Werner and Charles Kludt in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 17 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Sydney Davis | 41.0 | 1,272 |
| ✔ | | Richard Vasgaard | 27.2 | 844 |
| Dan Werner | 16.2 | 501 | ||
| Charles Kludt | 15.6 | 482 | ||
| Total votes: 3,099 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Richard Vasgaard did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Richard Vasgaard did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Richard Vasgaard did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of South Dakota scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the South Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 11 to March 28.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the South Dakota State Legislature was in session from January 12 to March 29.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate South Dakota House of Representatives District 16 |
Personal |
Footnotes
