From the Argus Leader:

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – State Rep. Joel Dykstra of Canton defeated two other candidates to win the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in today’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.

Read the Rest…