Dykstra Wins Republican South Dakota U.S. Senate Primary

Sioux Falls, SD - Canton native and State Representative Joel Dykstra has successfully won the Republican nomination for United States Senate.

Dykstra attributes his nomination to hard work and a positive message. He has logged over 70,000 miles since announcing his candidacy in July 2007. "My goal when I started this campaign was to personally meet as many South Dakotans as I could. I thought that was the best way to find out what issues were important to voters. We've come a long way, but we still have a long way to go before November."

With the U.S. Senate nomination now wrapped up, Dykstra and his staff will focus on the General Election and taking on incumbent Democrat Senator Tim Johnson. Dykstra said his strategy for winning in November is to show the clear differences between himself and Johnson. "I won't maintain the status quo in Washington like Senator Johnson has been content to do. I am committed to overcoming the "do nothing" culture in Washington that has been the standard for so many years and accounts for the historically low approval ratings for Congress today," he said.

Dykstra's campaign will focus on key issues such as solving the current energy crisis with long term solutions like promoting domestic oil production and expansion of refining capacity, combined with renewable energy development.

He also has a plan for reforming America's costly health care system, not through a big government take-over of the system, but through a program that encourages private insurance availability. Dykstra's plan includes empowering consumers to take control of how they spend their own health care dollars. This will drive down costs and improve quality and outcomes.

Dykstra said this is one of the most important elections for the state of South Dakota and the nation as a whole. "Voters understand that this election is about the future. It's a question of who South Dakotans choose to be their U.S. Senator for the next six years - who will be South Dakota's voice through 2014." He added, "It's time we give Senator John Thune a partner in Washington to advance South Dakota's conservative values in Washington, rather than letting our current Senators cancel out each other's vote."

The Dykstra campaign will immediately begin working to get to more places within the state and engage more voters in preparation for the General Election.

Click here to listen to Dykstra's reaction to tonight's win.