Dennis Daugaard for Governor

My grandparents came from Denmark and bought our family farm near Dell Rapids in 1911. My father, Raymond, was born in the farm house three years later. He married my mother, Florence, in 1950. They had three children – my two sisters, Joyce and Sandy, and me.

After six years attending law school and working in Chicago, I returned to South Dakota in 1981 to marry my high school girlfriend, Linda Schmidt, of Dell Rapids. Two years later, our daughter, Laura was born. The following spring, Linda and I purchased our family farmsite. We moved in with my parents and built our own home, on the same site, working evenings and weekends. By March of 1985 our home was ready, and we moved across the yard. In the years following, two more children were born to us, a daughter, Sara, and a son, Christopher. Laura, Sara, and Chris were the fourth generation of Daugaards to live on our family farm.

Laura was valedictorian of her high school class and a member of National Honor Society. She graduated with honors from SDSU in 2006 with a Journalism degree, with an advertising emphasis, and a minor in business. She is currently working full time for my campaign. She is married to Jay Mitchell, a commercial banker with Great Western Bank in Sioux Falls.

Sara was also valedictorian of her high school class and a member of National Honor Society. Sara was a Briggs Scholar and graduated from SDSU in 2007 at the top of her Electrical Engineering class.  She is employed as a project engineer at Sencore in Sioux Falls. Sara is married to Tony Venhuizen, a recent graduate of USD law school. Tony recently completed a clerkship with the First Judicial Circuit, and is now helping me with my campaign.

Chris recently graduated from SDSU with a major in Political Science and minors in Economics and Business.  At SDSU, he was a Briggs Scholar and participated in the Pride of the Dakotas marching band and drumline.  Chris was elected Students' Association President in 2008.  I’m happy to have Chris helping out with my campaign, after which he plans to attend graduate school.