David Ellwood Lust (March 22, 1968 – July 23, 2021) was an American politician who served as a member of the

South Dakota House of Representatives The South Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Dakota Legislature. It consists of 70 members, two from each legislative district. Two of the state's 35 legislative districts, Districts 26 and 28, are each subdivided ...

representing District 34 from January 2007 until January 2015 and again from September 2016 until January 2019.

Early life and education

Lust was born in

Aberdeen, South Dakota Aberdeen () is a city in and the county seat of Brown County, South Dakota, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 28,495. making it the third-most populous city in the state. Aberdeen is home of Northern State University. ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. He worked at an international development consulting firm in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

for three years before returning to South Dakota to attend the

University of South Dakota School of Law The University of South Dakota School of Law also known as University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law or USD Law in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States, is a professional school of the University of South Dakota and the only law school ...

, graduating with a

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

in 1997.

Career

Lust graduated from the

in 1997. He served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Richard Battey of the

United States District Court for the District of South Dakota The United States District Court for the District of South Dakota (in case citations, D.S.D.) is the United States District Court or the Federal district court, whose jurisdiction for issues pertaining to federal law or diversity for the state of ...

. He also worked as a partner at Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP. When incumbent Republican Representative Elizabeth Kraus resigned from the

, Lust and incumbent Representative Ed McLaughlin were unopposed for the June 6, 2006 Republican primary, and won the November 7, 2006 general election, where Lust took the first seat with 5,576 votes (33.9%) and Representative McLaughlin took the second seat ahead of Democratic nominees Suzy Dennis and Justin Lena. Lust was re-elected in 2008, 2010, and 2012. He left office in January 2015. Lust served as House Majority Whip in the 2009 and 2010 legislative sessions, and as House Majority Leader from 2011 to 2014. On September 26, 2016, Lust was appointed by Governor

Dennis Daugaard Dennis Martin Daugaard (born June 11, 1953) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 32nd governor of South Dakota from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the first chief executive of a U.S. state to be the ...

to replace Rep. Dan Dryden in the

. He served until January 2019.

Death

He died of a cardiac event on July 23, 2021, in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, at age 53.

References

External links

Official page
at the

South Dakota Legislature The South Dakota Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of South Dakota. It is a bicameral legislative body, consisting of the South Dakota Senate, which has 35 members, and the South Dakota House of Representatives, which has 7 ...

* 1968 births 2021 deaths Republican Party members of the South Dakota House of Representatives Politicians from Aberdeen, South Dakota Politicians from Rapid City, South Dakota Dartmouth College alumni University of South Dakota alumni South Dakota lawyers 21st-century members of the South Dakota Legislature {{SouthDakota-politician-stub