1944 United States presidential election in South Dakota Dakota would prove to be Dewey's third strongest state after Kansas and Nebraska. 1944 United States presidential election in South Dakota The 1944 United States presidential election in South Dakota took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. South Dakota voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. South Dakota was won by Governor Thomas E. Dewey (R–New York), running with Governor John Bricker, with 58.33% of the popular vote, against incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt (D–New York), running with Senator Harry S. Truman,
Franklin D. Roosevelt transformed American politics and started what political scientists call the "New Deal Party System" or the Fifth Party System. Between the Civil War and 1929, Democrats had rarely controlled both houses of Congress and had won just four of seventeen presidential elections; from 1932 to 1979, Democrats won eight of twelve presidential elections and generally controlled both houses of Congress. Roosevelt was elected in November 1932 but, like his predecessors, would not take office until the following March. After the election, Hoover sought to convince Roosevelt to renounce much of his campaign platform and to endorse the Hoover administration's policies.