Jason Richard Ravnsborg is an attorney and a politician who also pursued a military career. Born in Cherokee, Iowa, United States to Richard Ravnsborg and Jeannie Ravnsborg, Jason is an alumnus of Washington High School in Cherokee and the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, USA.

In the University of South Dakota, Jason earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science, master’s degree in history and Juris Doctor. He is licensed to practice law in the states of South Dakota and Iowa as well as the federal district courts for South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Federal Court of Claims and the U.S. Supreme Court.

As a battalion commander of the 394th Combat Service Support Battalion, Jason supervised four company commands. He commanded more than 600 soldiers not only in South Dakota but also in North Dakota, Nebraska and Missouri.

Jason is the 31st person to serve as the attorney general of South Dakota. Here are 13 more facts about him:

1. He attended the University of South Dakota from 1994 to 1998 for his bachelor’s degree and from 1998 to 2001 for his master’s degree and his Juris Doctor. _(a)
2. In September 1996, he became a lieutenant colonel of the U.S. Army Reserves. _(a)
3. In 2003, he was deployed to Germany in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. From 2003 to 2004, he attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, USA. He returned to the college in 2012 and in 2017. _(a)
4. In 2004, he joined the law firm of Harmelink and Fox in Yankton, South Dakota. From 2004 to 2005, he was deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After coming under enemy fire in the Middle Eastern country, he received the Bronze Star Medal. _(a)
5. From 2006 to 2018, he was a partner at the law firm Harmelink, Fox and Ravnsborg in Yankton. _(a)
6. From 2009 to 2010, he was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. _(a)
7. In 2013, he attended the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA. _(a)
8. In 2014, he ran in the Republican primaries for the U.S. Senate election in South Dakota. He came in fifth in the Republican primary after earning 2.77 percent of the votes and lost to Mike Rounds. _(a)
9. In 2015, he attended the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., USA. _(a)
10. From June 2016 to November 2018, he served as deputy state’s attorney for Union County, South Dakota. _(a)
11. On June 23, 2017, his mother died. He was nominated as the Republican candidate for South Dakota attorney general on June 23, 2018, elected on November 6, 2018 and sworn in on January 5, 2019. _(a)
12. On September 12, 2020, he attended the Lincoln Day Dinner in Redfield, South Dakota. While returning from the South Dakota Republican Party event by car, struck and killed a pedestrian, a man born in 1965, on U.S. Highway 14, west of Highmore, Hyde County, South Dakota. When he called the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office to report the event, he claimed he had struck a deer. The collision killed Joseph Boever, 55. On February 18, 2021, he was charged with careless driving, driving out of his lane and operating a motor vehicle while on his phone. _(b)(c)
13. On April 12, 2022, the South Dakota House of Representatives on voted to impeach him regarding his conduct surrounding the crash on September 12, 2020 that killed Boever. _(d)

_SOURCES:

• _{a. Jason Ravnsborg}
• _{b. Argus Leader}
• _{c. Associated Press}
• _{d. CNN}