Stace Nelson

Stacey "Stace" Nelson is a current state senator from South Dakota.

Personal life
Nelson lives in Fulton, South Dakota with his wife Aiza. They have six children, a son & daughter in law, and three grandsons.

Military and federal law enforcement career
Nelson served in the Marine Corps as a Military Policeman (MOS 5811), Marksmanship Instructor (MOS 8531) and Criminal Investigator (MOS 5821), for 13 1/2 years. He worked as a Naval Investigative Service Special Agent, then with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service as a Special Agent, and ultimately retired from NCIS in 2009 as an Investigator. His combined federal service was 23 1/2 years, 18 of which were overseas. His final assignments included working out of the NCIS Force Protection Detachment in the US Embassy in Manila, Philippines, and out of the NCIS Far East Field Office in Yokosuka, Japan. During his time as an NCIS agent, he worked on hundreds of cases involving military sexual assault, and was featured in the Oscar nominated documentary The Invisible War, advocating for the reform of how the military handles sexual assault claims.

2010 S.D. House of Representatives
Nelson was elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 2010. He served on the Judiciary Committee and the Local Government Committee. Nelson has often quarreled with party leaders in the House, and was briefly kicked out of the party caucus after an angry dispute between Nelson and a fellow House member. An investigation into Nelson's allegations by a subcommittee of the Legislature's Executive Board found no evidence of wrongdoing by party leadership.

2014 U.S. Senate campaign
Nelson ran for a U.S. Senate seat in South Dakota in 2014, describing himself as "probably the most conservative elected official in the state of South Dakota, and...probably the least partisan." He received 17.69% of the primary vote, coming in third in the race behind State Representative Larry Rhoden (18.25%) and former Governor Mike Rounds who won the nomination with 55.5% of the vote. Annette Bosworth came in 4th with 5.75%, and Jason Ravnsborg came in 5th with 2.77%.

2016 S.D. Senate Campaign
In the 2016 Republican Primary, Nelson defeated his Republican primary opponent, Caleb Finck, on a vote of 58% to 42% after running a race where the Sunday before the election, Nelson recorded an automated telephone call which accused his opponent of wearing women's undergarments. Nelson went on to win the general election against Democrat Russell Graeff with 78% of the vote.

Lawmaker Threat
In January 2012, Nelson was accused of physically threatening State Representative Nick Moser of Yankton after a heated debate on the House floor. As a result, Speaker of the House Val Rausch moved Nelson's seat in the legislature, and the incident was cited as one of the reasons Nelson was removed from the Republican Caucus for a period of time.

Robocall Controversy
Nelson was involved in a 2012 civil lawsuit filed by the Rushmore Political Action Committee. The civil suit alleged that certain persons violated South Dakota law by sending mailings and placing automated recorded phone calls targeting certain Republican state legislators without following South Dakota election law with regard to disclosures and filings. It was alleged that Nelson was aware of and was a party to the unlawful political advertising. Nelson was never charged with any crime related to the unlawful advertisements. In 2013 Stace Nelson was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case where the State of South Dakota prosecuted Dan Willard for political robodialed phone calls that were made without a disclaimer. He was later added to a civil lawsuit filed by the political action committee Rushmore PAC over the matter.