Shantel Swedlund Krebs (born April 28, 1973) is an American businesswoman and former South Dakota Secretary of State. She previously served in 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 in ...

and

South Dakota Senate The Senate is the upper house of the South Dakota Legislature. It consists of 35 members, one representing each legislative district; it meets at the South Dakota State Capitol in Pierre. Composition :''92nd Legislature (2019)'' Officers L ...

Early life and education

Shantel Krebs was born in South Dakota and graduated from Arlington High School in Arlington, South Dakota, in 1991. Krebs attended

Dakota State University Dakota State University (DSU) is a public university in Madison, South Dakota. The school was founded in 1881 as a normal school, or teacher training school. Education is still the university's heritage mission, but a signature mission of tech ...

Madison, South Dakota Madison is a city in Lake County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 6,191 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Lake County and is home to Dakota State University. Geography Madison is located at (44.007734, -97.114738). ...

, where she graduated with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in business administration.

Business career

Shantel has opened retail businesses in downtown

Sioux Falls Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

. Before that, she worked in the healthcare industry. She is currently a founding partner with Avera Health and Southeast Technical Institute of the Avera Academy. The program trains high school students for career opportunities in the healthcare field.

Political career

Krebs represented the 10th district of the

South Dakota Legislature The South Dakota State 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, whic ...

from 2005 to 2015, serving in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

from 2005-2011 and in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...

from 2011-2015. Krebs was elected to

majority whip A whip is an official of a political party whose task is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. This means ensuring that members of the party vote according to the party platform, rather than according to their own individual ideology ...

posts in both chambers and was chairwoman of the Transportation committee in the House and the Agriculture & Natural Resources committee in the Senate. Her district included Lincoln County and

Minnehaha County Minnehaha County is a county on the eastern border of the state of South Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 197,214, making it the state's most populous county. It contains over 20% of the state's population. Its county seat is S ...

Secretary of state

Shantel was elected to the office of South Dakota Secretary of State in 2014, and sworn in on January 2, 2015. Krebs ran unsuccessfully in the

2018 election The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2018. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. Africa *2018 Djiboutian parliamentary election 23 February 2018 *2018 Sierra Leonean general elect ...

for South Dakota's at-large congressional seat in the Republican primary.

Personal life

Shantel Krebs, then known as Shantel Swedlund, won Miss South Dakota 1997 and competed in the

Miss America 1998 Miss America 1998, the 71st Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 13, 1997 and was televised by the ABC Network. ABC replaced NBC as the pageant's television home. Results Place ...

competition. She resides in Canton, SD with her husband, former TV news anchor

Mitch Krebs Mitch Krebs was the co-anchor of the 6:00pm and 10:00pm news at KSFY-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota until February 1, 2007. He is married to former South Dakota Secretary of State The secretary of state of South Dakota is an elected consti ...

. In 2016, Krebs gained media attention when she shot a rattlesnake on her back patio of her home outside Fort Pierre. On June 5, 2019, Krebs, a board member of the Miss America Organization, replaced former Miss America 1989 and former Fox News personality

Gretchen Carlson Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (born June 21, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist, author, and television personality. Carlson appeared as the host of numerous television programs, most notably on the Saturday edition of ''The Early Show'' on ...

as Chairperson of the Miss America Organization.

Electoral history

References

External links

South Dakota Legislature - Representative Shantel Krebs
official SD House website
Project Vote Smart - Representative Shantel Krebs (SD)
profile *''Follow the Money'' - Shantel Krebs
200620042002
campaign contributions * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Krebs, Shantel 1973 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians American beauty pageant winners American Lutherans Living people Miss America 1998 delegates Secretaries of State of South Dakota Republican Party members of the South Dakota House of Representatives People from De Smet, South Dakota Women state legislators in South Dakota Beauty queen-politicians