South Dakota Republican state senator charged with felony over false candidate forms
A South Dakota state senator was charged with two felonies Tuesday for allegedly trying to put candidates for county party leadership posts on the primary election ballot without those candidates’ knowledge.
If convicted on both counts of offering a false or forged instrument for filing, 44-year-old Dell Rapids Republican Tom Pischke faces up to four years in prison.
The charges relate to alleged behavior that took place more than two months before the June 2 primary. Pischke was unopposed in the primary, and faces an independent candidate named Bryan Breitling, who’d previously served in the state legislature as a Republican, in the general election.
Pischke turned himself in on Tuesday morning. He was arrested, booked into the Minnehaha County Jail and released on his own recognizance before the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office sent a news release announcing that the charges had been filed.
https://southdakotasearchlight.com/2026/06/23/south-dakota-republican-state-senator-charged-with-felony-over-false-candidate-forms/