Dykstra wins GOP Senate nod
Posted: Wednesday, June 04, 2008
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- State Rep. Joel Dykstra of Canton defeated two other candidates to win the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in Tuesday's primary.
Dykstra will challenge two-term Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson in the November general election.
Dykstra was more well-known statewide among Republicans than his two opponents, Spearfish businessman Sam Kephart and Charles Lyonel Gonyo of Trent.
With 36 percent of precincts reporting, Dykstra had 16,100 votes to 5,470 for Kephart and 2,260 for Gonyo.
As of April, Johnson had raised almost 23 times more than Dykstra in his bid to win re-election this November: $4.6 million to less than $204,000.
Johnson's path to re-election became easier when Republican Steve Kirby, a Sioux Falls businessman and former lieutenant governor, decided in March not to challenge him. Kirby is independently wealthy and more well-known than the other Republicans running.
Johnson, 61, is seeking a third U.S. Senate term as he recovers from the brain hemorrhage he suffered in December 2006. He spent much of last year undergoing extensive physical and speech therapy after he fell ill, and he returned to the Senate in September.
Dykstra, 50, is a Canton native. He earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Oral Roberts University and worked for subsidiaries of British oil companies in Oklahoma and other U.S. locations.
Dykstra spent time in London, working for LASMO oil in 1990, and for LASMO in Rome in 1995.
He returned to Canton in the late 1990s and worked in commercial real estate, managed an agricultural business cooperative and a manufacturing company.
Dykstra now is a self-employed business consultant.
He and his wife, Vicki, have three adult daughters.
Kephart, 57, was born in Philadelphia and earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from National University in San Diego in 1976.
His experience includes working for Westinghouse Security Systems in Philadelphia and then San Diego. He started his own business in San Diego to provide video and digital services for businesses, and started the same kind of business in Spearfish after moving to South Dakota in 2004.
Kephart and his wife, Sammie, have two daughters.
Gonyo, 72, attended veterinary school at Iowa State University in the early 1960s. He worked at a private veterinary practice in Iowa.
Gonyo also worked for U.S. Department of Agriculture and later raised cattle. He retired in 1996.
Dykstra will challenge two-term Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson in the November general election.
Dykstra was more well-known statewide among Republicans than his two opponents, Spearfish businessman Sam Kephart and Charles Lyonel Gonyo of Trent.
With 36 percent of precincts reporting, Dykstra had 16,100 votes to 5,470 for Kephart and 2,260 for Gonyo.
As of April, Johnson had raised almost 23 times more than Dykstra in his bid to win re-election this November: $4.6 million to less than $204,000.
Johnson's path to re-election became easier when Republican Steve Kirby, a Sioux Falls businessman and former lieutenant governor, decided in March not to challenge him. Kirby is independently wealthy and more well-known than the other Republicans running.
Johnson, 61, is seeking a third U.S. Senate term as he recovers from the brain hemorrhage he suffered in December 2006. He spent much of last year undergoing extensive physical and speech therapy after he fell ill, and he returned to the Senate in September.
Dykstra, 50, is a Canton native. He earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from Oral Roberts University and worked for subsidiaries of British oil companies in Oklahoma and other U.S. locations.
Dykstra spent time in London, working for LASMO oil in 1990, and for LASMO in Rome in 1995.
He returned to Canton in the late 1990s and worked in commercial real estate, managed an agricultural business cooperative and a manufacturing company.
Dykstra now is a self-employed business consultant.
He and his wife, Vicki, have three adult daughters.
Kephart, 57, was born in Philadelphia and earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from National University in San Diego in 1976.
His experience includes working for Westinghouse Security Systems in Philadelphia and then San Diego. He started his own business in San Diego to provide video and digital services for businesses, and started the same kind of business in Spearfish after moving to South Dakota in 2004.
Kephart and his wife, Sammie, have two daughters.
Gonyo, 72, attended veterinary school at Iowa State University in the early 1960s. He worked at a private veterinary practice in Iowa.
Gonyo also worked for U.S. Department of Agriculture and later raised cattle. He retired in 1996.
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