Jason Salamun elected Rapid City’s 59th mayor

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) - A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Salamun won by 38%. It has been corrected to 32%.

Polls are closed and results are in. Voters elected Jason Salamun as Rapid City’s next mayor. He garnered 4,888 votes, 32 percent.

Jason Salamun outpaced four competitors to take the city’s top political post. Laura Armstrong came in second with 4,619 votes/30 percent. Third was Ron Weifenbach with 2,999 votes/19 percent, followed by Brad Estes with 2769 votes/18 percent, and Josh Lyle last with 150 votes/1 percent.

After the announcement that Salamun was elected as Rapid City’s next mayor, he shared some of his thoughts on the outcome.

“Everything I’ve talked about on the campaign trail is true, but the way we move forward is to build the best team possible; the mayor can’t do this by himself. Not only do I need to do a great job, but I also need a great city council, great leadership at the city, great staff, and it takes an entire community to help bring a vision to life,” remarked Salamun. “The fact is, whether it’s public safety or any of our other challenges or opportunities, it’s going to take all of us. So, I’m counting on all of Rapid City to work together to help make Rapid City the best place possible.”

Until recent elections, Rapid City had a 50-plus-one rule for mayor. A candidate had to have more than 50 percent of the vote to be elected. If the top candidate had less than 51 percent of the votes, the top two candidates would compete in a run-off election. The last time that happened was in 2007 when Alan Hanks defeated Sam Kooiker.

Salamun replaces current mayor Steve Allender, who opted not to seek re-election. Allender is the second longest continuous-serving mayor in the City’s history with eight years of service. The longest-serving mayor was Art LaCroix, who served six two-year terms, from 1975 to 1987. The new mayor, along with newly-elected city council members, will be sworn into office next month.

Click here for more history on Rapid City’s mayoral elections.

In the Alderman - Rapid City Ward 1 race, Josh Biberdorf won with 1513 votes/48 percent. Also winning their ward races are Kevin Maher, Ward 3 with 1916 votes/47 percent; and John Roberts, Ward 4 with 1061 votes/58 percent.

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