In the fall of 2022, South Dakota’s State Senate District 26 election became an unwelcome flashpoint in American politics: a Republican candidate accused of repeatedly sexually abusing his own adopted daughter remained on the ballot, garnered approximately 42 % of the vote, and triggered a sobering reckoning about the limits of accountability in both criminal law and partisan loyalty.
What to Know…
Severe criminal allegations do not automatically disqualify candidates, allowing Joel Koskan to remain on the ballot and receive 42% of the vote despite being accused, and later convicted, of sexually abusing his adopted daughter.
South Dakota law treats incest and aggravated incest as serious felonies, and while Koskan’s appeals hinge on technical arguments about adoption, courts historically treat adoptive parent-child relationships as legally equivalent to biological ones.
The case reflects a broader pattern of political hypocrisy, where Republican leaders publicly champion “family values” while repeatedly mishandling, minimizing, or deflecting accountability in cases involving sexual abuse, mirroring larger transparency failures such as the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files.
A Pattern of Abuse: The Koskan Criminal Case
In November 2022, Joel Koskan was charged with multiple serious crimes, including rape and sexual contact with a minor, relating to his adopted daughter. Prosecutors described years of grooming, monitoring, and coercion that began when the victim was around 12 years old. Investigators found that Koskan used a hidden camera in the victim’s bedroom and a GPS tracking app on her phone to surveil her constantly.
On April 11, 2023, he pleaded guilty to two felony counts of incest and was sentenced to 10 years in prison (two consecutive five-year terms), plus more than $20,000 in fines. A judge earlier rejected a proposed plea deal that would have allowed Koskan to serve no prison time in exchange for paying for the victim’s college and therapy, an offer widely criticized as insulting to justice.
South Dakota Statutes: Incest, Adoption, and the Law
South Dakota’s criminal code defines incest and related family offenses in clear, gender-neutral language. Incest is a Class 5 felony when two adults knowingly engage in sexual penetration and are related within degrees of consanguinity prohibited for marriage.
Additionally, the state criminal code includes aggravated incest when the victim is under 18 and either the perpetrator’s child (biological or by marriage) or related within prohibited degrees; this is a Class 3 felony with a substantially severe punishment.
Notably, the statute itself does not explicitly list adoptive relationships under the consanguinity provisions, because those provisions tie to blood-relation degrees for prohibited marriages. Koskan’s recent appeals argue this point as a basis to vacate his sentence. However, most legal scholars note that adoption in family law has long been treated for many purposes as creating the same legal duties and prohibitions as biological parentage, and prosecutors clearly believed the aggravated incest classification applied.
South Dakota also classifies rape, felony sexual contact with a minor, and incest as sex crimes requiring registration as a sex offender under its broader sex-crime statutes.
The 2022 Election: Votes Before Accountability
Because the charges were filed just days before the November election, South Dakota law did not allow Koskan’s name to be easily removed from the ballot. Many voters had already cast early or absentee ballots before the allegations became public. Despite the severity of the accusations, Koskan still received around 42 % of the vote in the general election, losing to Democrat Shawn Bordeaux.
That a man accused of such atrocious conduct could collect nearly half of the vote in his own district, as voters effectively had no alternative Republican choice on the ballot, is more than a quirk of election mechanics. It’s a reflection of a political culture that often places party loyalty above basic decency.
A Broader Pattern: Republican Hypocrisy on Sexual Abuse
Koskan’s case is not an isolated occurrence. For decades, Republican figures at every level, including judges, lawmakers, pastors, and campaign officials, have been caught in scandals involving sexual abuse, child victims, or exploitation.
Dennis Hastert, former Republican Speaker of the House, admitted he had sexually abused multiple boys he coached and served prison time. Ralph Shortey, a GOP state senator in Oklahoma, pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking and child pornography. These are not fringe examples; they cut to the heart of a party that often professes “family values” while mishandling, minimizing, or defending abusers within its ranks.
The federal government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files under the Trump administration further underscores this hypocrisy. A congressionally required release of documents related to Epstein’s sex trafficking network has been partial, redacted, and embroiled in partisan conflict, with the Justice Department at times removing material such as a photo featuring Donald Trump and later restoring it amid criticism.
The spectacle around the Epstein disclosures, where Republicans attempted to cast the story as a “hoax” when it implicated elites but balked when release obligations threatened to expose broader networks, reveals how political expediency can eclipse transparency and survivor rights.
This pattern is not merely anecdotal. It creates a politics in which allegations of sexual violence against children are either ignored until they explode in public view, superficially condemned, then absorbed back into partisan narratives that prioritize brand over truth.
Why This Matters Beyond South Dakota
The Joel Koskan case should haunt not just District 26 voters but every American who cares about ethical governance. It highlights:
- The tension between criminal justice and election mechanics allows accused predators to remain viable candidates.
- The inadequacy of party responses that condemn wrongdoing only after they’re forced to do so.
- A broader Republican Party problem where sexual abuse scandals accumulate, are spun, or are used as political currency rather than catalysts for systemic reform.
Koskan’s conviction and sentence should be the end of his story. Yet the fact that his legal appeals leverage technical statutory silences about adoption (rather than confronting the substance of his actions) parallels a political class that often clings to loopholes and talking points instead of honest accountability.
If a society cannot definitively reject individuals guilty of exploiting children, whether in a courthouse or at the ballot box, it calls into question the very moral foundations of its politics.