In Retrospect

“I’m very humbled that the people of this district were willing to send me back that many times,” Hunhoff said. “They’ve been very supportive (and) very insightful.”

Hunhoff, who most recently served as a state senator, said she met and developed good relationships with many people during her long run of service as a South Dakota lawmaker.

“You meet the constituents,” Hunhoff said. “You meet the people in Pierre and all the state agencies, the lobbyists. On the national level, I chaired and served on many committees and met a lot of my colleagues from across the states that were always so full of information.

“It’s about relationships,” she said. “That’s what life’s about. I’ve had many mentors (and) many supporters. That has all made the difference in what I believe I’ve been able to accomplish during the last 24 years.”

She said earning the title of longest-serving female member of the Legislature is a “milestone” in her career in public service. She served as a state lawmaker during the terms of four different South Dakota governors.

“I have built my reputation up, and it’s being respected and trustful,” Hunhoff said. “If I can trust, you can be respected. You’re going to be able to work with people (and) find solutions. ... I’ve had to build a foundation that the ‘good old boys’ have to see that I’m not there to take them out. I’m trying to work with them and I’m willing to compromise when it’s the right decision to make.”

ON HER MIND

The daughter of Leonard and Amy Rokusek said she has always had public service on her mind as far back as she can remember while growing up in Tabor.

“In that community, to get engaged, you had to be involved if you wanted to do anything,” Hunhoff said. “I had so many mentors, with my parents and the families in Tabor, so I got engaged (in the community) there. I did a lot of things with Czech Days and some of the organizations that were there.”

She recalled serving in 1971 as a page in the Legislature for State Rep. Simon Chance of Scotland.

“That was my first real insight as to what happens in Pierre,” Hunhoff said.

She became more politically active once she started attending South Dakota State University in Brookings. She graduated in 1976 from there with a bachelor’s degree in nursing.

“When I graduated, I felt very strongly about the South Dakota Nurses Association and belonging to the profession, so I got involved with their Government Relations Committee,” Hunhoff said. “I sort of liked that arena.”

Hunhoff, a longtime registered nurse, and her husband, Dan, moved from North Platte, Nebraska, back to southeast South Dakota in 1980, not long after she graduated with a master’s degree in nursing from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.

Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton then hired her. She added a master’s degree in healthcare administration in 1991 from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She spent more than 35 years in clinical and administrative healthcare positions, with most of those at Avera Sacred Heart.

CITY TO STATE

Hunhoff eventually ran for a seat on the Yankton City Commission, on which she served for several years during the 1990s, including two years as mayor. She then decided to pursue a position in state government and was first elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2000.

Much of her time as a state lawmaker was spent focusing on the healthcare continuum, including as an advocate for rural healthcare access, clinical quality and the need for healthcare providers in all clinical services.

Hunhoff said she focused, during her time in the Legislature, on how she could help improve people’s quality of life. The South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations presented her with the Distinguished Service Award for State Legislator in 2021.

“I’m very interested in healthcare,” Hunhoff said. “There were, as there are today, all kinds of issues with healthcare. Certainly, access has always been a primary issue in South Dakota.”

Hunhoff, who flipped back and forth between the state House of Representatives and Senate during her tenure in the Legislature, had been a member of several legislative committees, including holding leadership positions. For example, she served on the Interim Rules Review Committee, including as its chair, for 24 years and the Joint Appropriations Committee, including as its co-chair for 16 years.

“We all look at what our strengths are,” Hunhoff said. “One of my strengths were that I could speak, and I was data-focused on outcomes.”

According to a November article from the South Dakota Searchlight, several other members of the Joint Appropriations Committee, which Hunhoff had been the co-chair of before the end of her tenure in the Legislature, thanked her “for her commitment to budgetary oversight and praised her for helping newer lawmakers navigate the workings of legislating” during her years of service at the State Capitol.

“I understand what’s been happening,” Hunhoff said. “I know who the players are.”

She said she believes she built up a reputation in the Legislature as being a person for accountability and data.

“If you can provide that and show us that we’re going to have good outcomes, whatever the programming is that’s going to benefit the citizens, (I) will try to find a way to help in those areas,” Hunhoff said.

TURNOVER

Hunhoff is one of several incumbent lawmakers who are not returning to serve in the Legislature this year. She lost her 2024 primary race for re-election by 96 votes in June to challenger Lauren Nelson, who went on to victory in the November general election by topping Sarah Carda by more than 1,400 votes.

“This year, we had such a large turnover in the Legislature,” Hunhoff said. “That is good, but you lose history. If you lose history, you’re reinventing wheels because you’ve got no one there to come back and say, ‘This is what it was. We’ve tried that. I’m willing to try something else, but it can’t be the same thing over.’ ... It’s going to be very interesting.”

As the 2025 session of the Legislature is slated to start on Tuesday, she said she is going to enjoy sitting back and watching what takes place in Pierre this year.

“You never know,” Hunhoff said of possibly running for another government office in the future. “I say the Lord is trying to direct me. If He didn’t want me to go back to the Legislature, I’ve got to figure out what direction he wants me to go, but at this point, I’m just going to see what happens.”

Now that she does not have to concentrate on serving in the Legislature, she plans to keep busy working on projects in and around her home and on other property she and her husband own in the region, including Cardinal Fitness in Tabor. She also co-owns Czeckers Sports Bar & Grill in Yankton with her son Matt and his wife, Kelsey.

However, Hunhoff said she will miss serving the public in the Legislature and working with fellow state lawmakers and others “to find great things” for South Dakota.

“It’s the many friendships that I’ve formed in Pierre that I’m going to terribly miss,” Hunhoff said. “People don’t know all the people behind the scenes that are working for them, for the constituents. ... I’ve had the opportunity to meet and work with those people. There’s never been anyone that I didn’t appreciate or that I didn’t think had a purpose.”