Simplified: Sioux Falls Simplified spoke face-to-face with dozens of legislative candidates in the metro area. All candidates were asked the same slate of questions, and you can find comprehensive coverage for each district at sfsimplified.com.

Don't know your legislative district? This interactive map can help you find it.

Here's what we asked:

How does economic development factor into your list of policy priorities? What role do you think the state should play in supporting existing businesses and attracting new businesses/industries?

Here's what candidates said:

District 2

Adam Long: "We need to have the government step back a lot more than what they've pushed forward in economic development. We've gotten to the point in government that we know better and that we're gonna pick the winners and losers within business. I don't think it's worked for us.

• Long noted that the state has seen economic incentives to go foreign companies and multi-billion dollar companies whose workers qualify for government assistance because the pay is so low.
• "That doesn't make sense to me."

Manuel Luschas: "I think the state government's role should be a big fat zero. I think if we want to claim that we're a free market economy, we need to let the market play out.

• Luschas also said he doesn't want to see the state giving tax breaks to some businesses and play the field toward "favorite players." He likened that behavior to socialism.

Blake Rife: "I’m a huge fan of small, short-term loans for businesses to try and expand their small business a little bit, but if you’re a business with $10, $15, $20 million in gross revenue – that’s not really necessary. You can go to a bank. I’m not really interested in a bunch of freebies.

• "Nothing is free at the end of the day, and it’s not fair to ask the South Dakota voters to be doling out a bunch of cash to people that we’re not responsible for.
• "But if we wanna do some short-term loans? Absolutely, I’d love to take a look at particular sectors of business that we want South Dakota to be innovative with."

See more from District 2 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 2 folks looking to represent you in Pierre

District 2's lone state senate seat has already been decided as Sen. John Sjaarda will return to Pierre unopposed and in a new chamber. But, the district has three men vying to represent its people in two open seats in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 6

Garret Campbell: "People need to be paid better – it's as simple as that. We are in a cost of living crisis, and we need to make programs that allow people to get paid better and also doesn't spook the businesses too hard that they start to leave.

• "There's a couple ways we can go about it. We can go a little above inflation (on raising minimum wage), or incentivize companies to pay their workers better.
• "That's going to be a lot of nickel and diming on my end and having to crunch numbers and figure out tax breaks."

Jerry Jongeling: "I do like the fact that South Dakota attracts businesses to the state. More property tax and more business that comes in, it does help our property tax and our tax revenue for the state.

• "If we can bring in a bigger company, that can bring great tax dollars in – if it's the right fit, I’m for that.
• "On the other hand though, our economic development dollars should help grow our current businesses. ... I like to look at how we can help the ag community with our economic development and not necessarily the larger companies ... Maybe there's an opportunity for economic development to help farmers and young people."

Elliott Neff: "What attracted us (to South Dakota) was not handouts was not incentives, none of those things – what attracted us was freedom.

• "I think the more government gets involved in things, the less freedom you end up with, so I don't believe government should be involved in this. Is it government's job to grow businesses? Or is that becoming special interests at play?"

Austin Wolf: "Economic development down here is a good thing, but I think we need to understand who its benefitting.

• "Infrastructure’s a big thing to me. I value our water system here. One thing I hear a lot about at the doors is how bad the traffic is getting and the roundabouts in Harrisburg that people don't like. I think we need to have better planing and better public input.
• "We need to plan better and see ahead. You have to have an overall view of the project and everything that's going on so that you can get a birds-eye view and understand what's coming."

See more from District 6 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 6 folks looking to represent you in Pierre

District 6's lone senate seat has already been decided, as Ernie Otten will return to Pierre unopposed. But there's a full slate of candidates vying for the two open seats in the South Dakota House of Representative.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 9

Amanda Potter: "I would really like to see emphasis on small business and homegrown enterprise, supporting local communities for knowing what's best as far as business in their local community.

• "I would love to see more emphasis on that and less on trying to attract national or global brands or entities. Times are hard for everyone, so to try to start a small business or grow your business during this time is so prohibitive. I think it’d be better to invest in them rather than a multinational company."

Megan Tschetter: "I want growth, but I would like responsible growth. Growth should benefit the people who already live here. I don't believe that outsiders should come in and hurt the people who already live here.

• I will always support business and economic development as long as it is good for the people that live here."

Tesa Schwans: "I think economic growth is good, but it's best when there's money for people to spend.

• "I think that Main Street South Dakota has been suffering. I think that small businesses have been suffering in South Dakota. I am a small business owner, and so growth to me should happen organically and intentionally, and it should always be with the best interest of the people that it's going to serve and not one group of people but many groups of people.
• "I think that it's hard for the government to pick winners and losers, and for me economic development should always be very intentional, very thought-through, and that the money is going to, in the end, benefit the people. I believe in organic growth, responsible growth, job-creating growth, and supporting small business."

See more from District 9 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 9 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

District 9's lone senate seat has already been decided, and Sen. Joy Hohn will return to Pierre for another term. Three women are vying for the remaining two state house seats in a rare all-female district representing Hartford and northwest Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 10

Liz Larson (Senate): "I think that South Dakotans don’t want, in general, to subsidize private corporations.

• "When people say we can’t pick winners and losers — which is something I hear over and over again — that’s true, but only to a certain degree. We already are picking winners and losers. I don’t look at it that way because we are trying to keep our economy balanced, trying to keep communities that rely on industries like agriculture solvent.
• "We do need to finesse our capitalism system a little bit ... so people aren’t subject to the volatility of markets all the time. I do think we need to be careful about it, and we need to make sure that the choices that we’re making align with our values."

Michael Dupic (Senate): Declined to be interviewed.

Adam Bair (House): "I think that responsible economic policy is important, and by responsible what I mean is, we know South Dakotans work very, very hard and have wonderful work ethics.

• "What we don’t want to see with responsible economic development is companies that come in and do not pay a living wage. If a company is going to come in and use our tax incentives, our tax environment, and our phenomenal workforce, they need to ensure they’re paying a living wage. That way the people who are working for them can afford a life of dignity.
• "South Dakota should not be in the business of bringing in large businesses that don’t pay a living wage because ultimately it hurts the community."

Kathleen Brudvig (House): "Economic development is obviously essential for a state to thrive, for people to earn an income and be secure. Economic development is very important.

• "I do think the state plays a role in trying to attract businesses through various policy initiatives to try to bring jobs here. I think what we need to do when we evaluate an economic development project is make sure it is a net positive for the state."

Kimberly Petterson (House): "I’m always for development of our communities. I’m more for supporting small business.

• "I feel the South Dakota legislature should stay out of giving tax incentives to large corporations to come into our state. I’m not for giant, huge economic development.
• "I’m more for helping out the small business owner with maybe some kind of incentive to help them start their businesses and stay away from a large corporation. We don’t need tons of jobs in South Dakota. I think we have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country but we do struggle with small businesses staying open."

John Pohlman (House): "I’m a big proponent of smart economic development, and not all economic development is smart. I think South Dakota again has done a very good job over the years of promoting smart economic development.

• "The governor’s office of economic development exists largely to support South Dakota businesses and to help them grow. That kind of gets lost in the shuffle when you hear about incentives for large out-of-state operations coming onto the state, and people have to remember that most of the job of economic development is to grow the companies that were founded here and are employing most of the people in South Dakota.
• "I think we have to be smart and we have to be careful with the incentives that we offer. Incentives are table stakes. You can’t even get into the game to bring a large company in without offering some sort of incentives ... We just have to do it smartly and prudently."

See more from District 10 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 10 folks looking to represent you in Pierre

District 10 is one of few districts in the Sioux Falls area that was able to field both Democratic and Republican candidates in both the house and senate races. Meet the candidates here.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 11

Chris Karr (Senate): Did not respond to interview requests.

Aaron Matson (Senate): "We need some of both. My priority in most cases would be supporting local South Dakota-grown businesses and making sure they can succeed, doing what we can to have a good environment for them. ...

• "I don’t think we should compete with the biggest states for the largest corporations. I'm a baseball guy – we should be more like the Twins than the Yankees when it comes to acquiring a business or talent. We need to focus on development and training and be wise in picking our spots and bringing in the free agents from out of state. We’ll never win a competition for the biggest free agents with some of the larger states, but we can definitely be successful."

Brian Mulder (House): "As I mentioned, we live in a low-tax environment, and we're attractive to those economic development opportunities. Showing what we have to offer – tourism, the school systems that we have – I think that's our role.

• "I wouldn't heavily incentivize much beyond what we're already doing and the systems that we have already in place, and I think we have to play within what the governor has laid out.
• (There's also an) argument to be made that when you fund school systems and Medicaid providers, there's an economic impact and return. ... When they're doing well, the community does well as well."

Sonja Mentzer (House): "I do agree with the future fund and trying to use it for economic development in a discretionary type of way, but I do think there needs to be some oversight or later accountability for some of the spending.

• South Dakota has a lot of good things going for it, and I think we need to find companies or industry that exemplifies those things, not work against it."

Tracey Quint (House): "I can definitely see wanting to attract new industry and new business into the state. Having some sort of tax benefit to bring people in is an important thing for that. I caution not to do too much of that because, like I said, we don’t want to give too much of a tax benefit to things like data centers. It should be a case-by-case thing where we’re vetting, and making sure the thing we’re bringing in isn’t ruining the landscape."

Keri Weems (House) said she herself is a product of South Dakota's focus on economic development, noting that she and her husband moved back to South Dakota thanks to a program from then-Gov. George S. Mickelson.

• "If it weren’t for that program, I’m not sure my husband and I would’ve come back. So I’m really thankful. I see the value in it."
• "I think economic development is really a great tool to build workforce, to attract businesses that provide great paying jobs and usually if you have good economic development, you have money for great schools, you have money for great retail, great restaurants, more housing development. It just helps in every aspect of the community."

See more from District 11 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 11 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

Six candidates are looking to represent this geographically small but populous district, and both house and senate seats are contested.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 12

Amber Arlint (House): "When I think about economic development I often tie it directly to our property‑tax issue that we’re hearing about from our constituents.

• Strong economic development brings in a broader tax base which in turn should then reduce property taxes. When we think about how the state should play a role in both supporting and attracting, the number‑one selling point for South Dakota in previous decades has been we’re a place that is easy to do business. We need to continue to be a place that is easy to do business."

Stephanie Arne (House): "I’ve owned a small business for 15 years and am a huge supporter of small business. These are people from our community providing jobs and products and services to their neighbors.

• "However ... if your family has been doing this for a long time as a farmer or rancher, I don’t want you to be pushed out by a company coming in from another state or country. We need to support our local business owners.
• "I believe we need strong regulations with AI. I’m concerned about AI just like plastics. It can be really great and provide incredible services, but if we don’t regulate it and pay attention to it, it can become harmful and wasteful – not just to wildlife but to us and our children. ... I don’t think tax money should go to things that are harmful."

Kerry Loudenslager (House): "We’ve got to keep pushing for that. We lose too many workers and college graduates to out-of-state companies. We need to continue to push economic development.

• "When I say that, I mean economic development that’s mutually beneficial, not just for the company involved but also beneficial for the communities. There are a lot of smart business people and big companies that want to expand in South Dakota.
• "As far as exemptions go, you can’t blame companies for asking for a state tax exemption, but when billionaire companies come in, I am not in favor of excessive incentives without caveats."

Kari Shanard-Koenders (Senate): "I am pro-economic development when it’s done properly. A lot of the business that comes to our area is wonderful, but some aren’t necessarily, and for those we’d need to put some guardrails up.

• " I would bring business into our state as long as we still have room and we still have the need for further tax dollars and all of that. Having said that, I don’t know all the tax-increment financing. I don’t know all the details of those bond issues and whatnot.
• "I’m very pro-small business. I think we should help small businesses with loans and grants and things if we have the money to do that."

Joe Zweifel (Senate): Could not be reached for comment.

See more from District 12 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 12 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

District 12 has some heavy hitters who are no longer in play. Here's a closer look at who's looking to represent the central and southwest Sioux Falls district.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 13

Ali Rae Horsted: "I think South Dakota is doing a pretty good job with economic development. It’s important, but I also think the incentives we offer to certain businesses that come here should have guardrails. We should ensure that the incentives we provide to bring businesses here deliver on their promises."

John Hughes: "I introduced a bill last session to create a preferred property tax status for family‑owned commercial business properties and it was killed in the House tax committee. I believe in it, and I’m gonna try to bring it back. We have special protections for family farms, but we have no protections for small businesses that cooperate in rural communities that are dependent on the success of farming.

• "Seventy percent of our jobs are with small businesses. Why are we targeting large corporations with global interests? I've sat in a lot of board rooms. I am no shrinking violet when it comes to business people making millions, tens of millions or billions of dollars because we’ve changed our laws. The days of South Dakota having a Cinderella complex are gone looking for prince charming. I mean we have full employment, but we’ve just got to do more for small businesses."

Jack Kolbeck: "That’s a top priority for me, economic development. ... I think economic development is the only way we’re going to sustain the state the way we are today. ...

• "If we have money available in the futures fund, as long as that money is used for the right types of developments – and we have made a mistake or two – but I think if that money is used for the right development in the community and state, I’m 100% for it. I like to see new people move into town. I know there’s people that complain about the traffic and complain about too many people and all of that but we’re gonna have to accept that. That’s growth."

See more from candidates in District 13:

Meet the Dist. 13 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

District 13's lone state senate seat has already been decided as veteran lawmaker Sue Peterson will run unopposed. Meanwhile, three people are vying for the two open seats in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 14

Taylor Rae Rehfeldt: Could not be reached for comment before deadline.

Tyler Tordsen: "I think the voters have been pretty clear, and I think we’ve learned a lot in the last couple years too where we need more communication and consultation. We almost needed to reset a little bit.

• "A lot of the big projects – some of them with an out‑of‑state nexus – tend to get more of the attention in the headlines. It’s not like smaller businesses or existing businesses don’t have the same access to those resources and haven’t been taking advantage of any of that. Sometimes we’re not showcasing it enough and lifting them up enough. Sometimes, we're not doing enough to let them know that you are eligible too. Government should not be in the biz of picking winners and losers.
• "I'm really proud of South Dakota that we don’t have all of our eggs in one basket either."

Erinn Williams: "I am a small business owner, so I’m super about other people having small businesses. I think that again South Dakota has focused on big business and big things and forgotten about little bitty people like me.

• "I think we need to focus more on small business that are trying to start up and supporting business that are here. Farmers should have that support as well."

See more from District 14 candidates:

Meet the Dist. 14 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

District 14's senate seat is already decided as Larry Zikmund will return to Pierre unopposed. That leaves three people vying for the two open seats in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 15

June CopperStad (House): "I love our small business in this state. I think that whatever grant opportunities, loan opportunities, early investment – that’s something I definitely support.

• "Coming back to childcare – we get federal dollars that are specifically allocated to support childcare in the state, and we don’t do nearly enough with that money, only reaching 11% of families in SD that are eligible for that money. Another thing we can do with those dollars is help establish more daycares with those dollars. We have people who want to be able to work in that field who’ve been forced out of it because the wages aren’t livable.
• "(Another thing is) opportunities for genuine affordable housing here. We had $200 million that we were supposed to allocate toward affordable housing. The money got stripped of those requirements, and instead of helping first-time buyers or making sure we had infrastructure for adequate housing, it went primarily in grants to developers and out-of-state investors – folks invested in renters continuing to rent."

Brenda Lawrence (Senate): Could not be reached for comment before publication deadline.

Erik Muckey (Senate): "It’s impossible to separate the state’s role from building an economy that works for everybody. When I think about that I think of how we are actually incentivizing and supporting workforce and recruitment for those types of high-need jobs, there's things like Build Dakota scholarships.

• "How are we supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in the state? ... It’s important to keep in mind that when we make decisions as far as state economic development dollars, there’s a reason why. I led the charge with a few other colleagues to reform the Futures Fund and make it actually work for workforce development instead of whatever pet projects we can put out there. Economic development is necessary in the sense that we have to find ways to level the playing field for workers in SD to actually advance. It’s not just about recruiting from out of state. It’s also about building what we have here."

Joni Tschetter (House): "I think economic development is great. Realtors and county commissioners know a lot of our local information. The city has their own economic development team. I think the state is a free market and businesses have worked very hard here in Sioux Falls and in South Dakota.

• "There’s a fine line in attracting new business with tax breaks and tax incentives. I don’t know the fine line on tax incentives. There are much more knowledgeable people than I am, but economic development is great here in South Dakota.
• "We have great workers who come to work on time every day. We have transportation systems. I’m on the public transportation advisory board with Sioux Area Metro. They are working hard and we’re giving them suggestions about routing to better meet needs, like going to Amazon or down to 57th where there are a lot of doctors. Where is the need? Let’s meet it and help people learn."

Kadyn Wittman (House): "I think less about the business end part of it and more about how do we retain young South Dakotans that go to tech schools and universities here and then leave the state. How do we get them to stay?

• "I look at the Build Dakota Scholarship and how immensely that has been getting young folks to stay. A lot of them put roots down, buy homes, start families.
• "Economic development really comes back to affordability. Can folks see themselves living in these communities with the wages they are paid and the cost of living the way it is? There are certain things we can’t impact, i.e., price of groceries, but what are other areas that I can increase affordability or relieve strain on South Dakotans?"

Andre Zachariahs (House): "We currently have an unemployment rate under 1.5% depending on the quarter. We can bring great jobs here, but we also need people to be able to work them. In South Dakota we have great opportunity for workforce right now. I would love to see us be able to attract jobs that allow more upward mobility.

• "When we talk about economic development, the things that are going to have the greatest impact have a lead time of 10, 15 to 20 years. Children who are educated and wise and know how to use the facts they’ve learned – that takes time to build. When we underwrite, we do a bond issuance, we’re underwriting on future growth."

See more from District 15 candidates here:

Meet the Dist. 15 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

District 15 one of few districts in the Sioux Falls area in which every single seat is hotly contested by both parties.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

District 16

Lisa Bogue: Could not be reached for comment.

Tim Rhead: "Obviously without economic development, you’re falling behind. We have to have economic development.

• "I don’t know how (about) the governor having the fund where he just throws millions of dollars at everybody. I think there needs to be more oversight on that.
• "I also think there needs to be some looking at how much tax deferment and how many years we give people to not pay taxes because obviously that economic development doesn’t help the state. I think we need to take a good hard look at that.
• "I would love to see more manufacturing, more things made in the United States. If there’s one thing COVID taught us, we don’t make a lot of things in the U.S. We are very dependent on other countries."

John Shubeck: "I think we need to be careful. We’ve seen lots of controversy with some of these projects and some of the funds. I wasn’t a big fan of the shooting range idea – millions of dollars on a shooting range (near Rapid City).

• "But with that said, in Centerville these small towns’ economic development has been critical on the smaller scale. The bigger scale stuff, that’s where you get into issues and controversy.
• "Within my district, I left active duty from the Marines and moved back home around 2014, and Centerville was kind of in a tough spot at the time. We had a good friend of mine renovate downtown, found ways to get rid of rundown buildings and get contractors to come and build new buildings in the place.
• "Centerville has completely turned around in the last 12 years and a lot of that’s due to him and his economic development efforts. ... Those programs are very useful for these small towns. And for reviving blighted areas – I think is a valuable tool."

See more from District 16 candidates:

Meet the Dist. 16 folks who want to represent you in Pierre

District 16's lone senate seat has already been decided, as Kevin D. Jensen will return to Pierre running unopposed. That leaves three people vying for two open seats in the South Dakota House of Representatives.

Sioux Falls SimplifiedMegan Raposa

What happens next?

Election Day is Nov. 3.