# Karla Lems

Karla Lems is a Republican member of the South Dakota House for district 16.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: South Dakota House, district 16
- Serving since: 2023-01-10
- Current term: SD 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/0c864308-04a8-4b22-af5b-5d718046b99f

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0c864308-04a8-4b22-af5b-5d718046b99f (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

Lems sits at −0.17 on the CSIP scale, more liberal than 99% of State House Republicans.

## What Lems says (SD 2025–26 session)

92 classified statements: 92 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Lems | State House Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 0.0% | 2.9% | 642 of 791 |
| Policy criticism | 25.0% | 9.3% | 65 of 791 |
| Policy discussion | 35.9% | 31.9% | 321 of 791 |
| Bipartisanship | 1.1% | 1.8% | 393 of 791 |
| Credit claiming | 3.3% | 12.7% | 617 of 791 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.4% | 618 of 791 |

Most discussed policy areas: Environmental Protection 27% (State House Republicans 1.9%); Government Operations and Politics 21% (State House Republicans 18%); Taxation 21% (State House Republicans 8.1%); Energy 18% (State House Republicans 4.1%); Agriculture and Food 15% (State House Republicans 4.4%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score −0.17 (standard error 0.01), from 24 donors and 601 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 1.2% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Votes (SD 2025–26 session)

640 roll calls. Attendance 99.8% (South Dakota House 96.6%). Party unity 96.1% (76%). 125 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-03-12 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 78 revise the General Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2026. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB78/
- 2026-03-12 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · HB 1051 revise property tax levies for school districts and to revise the state aid to general and special education formulas. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1051/
- 2026-03-12 · voted yea · Do Pass · HB 1326 appropriate money for the ordinary expenses of the legislative, judicial, and executive departments of the state, the current expenses of state… · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1326/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 219 require that a state agency consult with the Aeronautics Commission prior to purchasing, transferring, or disposing of a state owned and operated… · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB219/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 245 create the homeowner property tax reduction fund, and to transfer moneys to the homeowner property tax reduction fund. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB245/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 221 regulate the retail sale of nicotine products, and to provide a penalty therefor. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB221/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 222 make an appropriation for eligible water, wastewater, storm water, and riparian buffer initiative projects and to declare an emergency. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB222/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 119 create the capitol restoration fund and to transfer moneys thereto. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB119/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 106 modify the amount required to be set aside for extraordinary expenses incurred in providing special education programs. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB106/
- 2026-03-09 · voted yea · Do Pass Amended · SB 102 modify the distribution of gaming revenues. · pass · https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SB102/

## Legislation (SD 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 47 bills: 39 reached committee, 18 passed one chamber, 14 passed both, 12 became law. Cosponsored 0. 76.6% of sponsored bills got out of committee (South Dakota House 81.4%; rank 49 of 69).

Recent sponsored bills:

- SC 824: honoring the 2025-2026 Canton C-Hawks boys wrestling team. (introduced, 2026-03-04) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SC824/
- HC 8023: honoring the legacy and strength of grandmothers in this state. (introduced, 2026-03-04) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HC8023/
- SC 819: honoring the 2025-2026 Canton C-Hawk girls wrestling team. (introduced, 2026-03-04) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SC819/
- SC 823: honoring the achievements of Canton C-Hawks wrestling team coach Jeremy Ask. (introduced, 2026-03-04) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SC823/
- SC 817: honoring the 2025-2026 Canton C-Hawk girls wrestling team. (introduced, 2026-03-03) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/SC817/
- HB 1224: protect persons from discrimination by financial institutions. (in committee, 2026-02-20) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1224/
- HB 1222: prohibit members of the Board of Economic Development from having any interest in moneys from or approved by the Board of Economic Development. (in committee, 2026-02-19) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1222/
- HB 1221: establish a post-employment restriction for employees of the Governor's Office of Economic Development and create a penalty therefor. (in committee, 2026-02-11) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1221/
- HB 1184: define man and woman throughout the state. (became law, 2026-03-30) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1184/
- HB 1230: modify requirements for payment of the employer's investment in South Dakota's future fee. (in committee, 2026-02-23) https://openstates.org/sd/bills/2026/HB1230/

## Campaign money (2024 cycle)

Itemized receipts $21.6K (State House Republicans median $10.7K). 97% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-09-18 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2100944129056227634
- 2026-09-18 · Post on X · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2100944448905453745
- 2026-08-26 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2092735568421556627
- 2026-05-31 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2061046902427206089
- 2026-05-13 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2054374628529754505
- 2026-04-23 · Post on X · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2047253415902814552
- 2026-04-15 · Post on X · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2044479186031497690
- 2026-03-16 · Post on X · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2033563713999868219
- 2026-03-14 · Post on X · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2032752649120915599
- 2025-12-15 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/karlalems16/status/2000508469133344998

## Links

- Official site: https://sdlegislature.gov/Legislators/Profile/4524/Detail
- X: https://x.com/karlalems16
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100073233906076
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karlalems16/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karla-lems-162b56304

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/0c864308-04a8-4b22-af5b-5d718046b99f