Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken officially announces he's running for reelection

Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken officially announced his re-election campaign Monday afternoon, saying it would be his honor to lead Sioux Falls forward for a second term as mayor of the city.

In a speech given along the bike trail under the Eighth Street Bridge, TenHaken laid the groundwork for why voters should give him another four years at the helm.

TenHaken said the last 18 months have been extremely challenging for the city, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, racial tensions and an increasingly divided country.

He said Sioux Falls had done well at avoiding a "dialogue chasm," of people who are unable to find a middle ground, but that there was still work to be done.

More: Mayor TenHaken unveils 'Vision for 2026' ahead of anticipated reelection announcement

TenHaken said he wanted to keep moving forward on issues like the city's housing shortage, economic growth in the wake of the ongoing pandemic and the growth of mentorship in the community.

Those issues, he said, "require a steady hand at the wheel, consistency to carry forward what we've done the last three and a half years, someone who will listen first and speak second. Someone who's only agenda is Sioux Falls."

That person is him, TenHaken said, adding he'd spent a significant amount of time speaking with his family about the decision (and inviting his daughter and "campaign manager" Nora to share some of her thoughts about his campaign, to sound of applause from the crowd).

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Closing the speech, TenHaken said he'd need the help of the community to reach those goals, pointing to his One Sioux Falls framework.

"I just want to leave Sioux Falls better than I found it during this one little chapter," TenHaken said. "And someone else will take it after me, and move it ahead."

TenHaken's term as mayor began in 2018, after advancing to a runoff election where he beat Jolene Loetscher by the largest margin of victory since the city began using the strong-mayor form of government in 1994.

The announcement comes after the Sioux Falls City Council's finalization of medical marijuana rules last week, a controversial topic that TenHaken's office weighed in on in multiple ways, including capping the total number of dispensaries in the city at five.

More:Sioux Falls bans marijuana grow businesses and caps dispensaries at 5

The election is set for April 12, 2022, with four city council seats also up for grabs.

The only other challenger for the role of mayor at this time is David Zokaites, a regular at the public input portion of Sioux Falls City Council meetings who failed to make the ballot during his 2018 mayoral run.