[1] Berry was challenged by Republican Leslie Jensen, the former Collector of Internal Revenue for the state of South Dakota.

[3] Some drama surrounded the potential candidacy of Democratic State Auditor George O'Neill as an independent candidate for Governor or, in the alternative, his cross-party endorsement of Jensen; after initially announcing his campaign and hedging, O'Neill dropped out of the race in September and endorsed the Democratic ticket in the state, including Berry.

Republicans attacked Governor Berry's administration for providing inadequate relief to South Dakotan farmers.

[5] But Berry's willingness to break the state's unwritten political tradition by seeking a third term was apparently controversial[citation needed].

However, President Franklin Roosevelt carried the state by a fairly wide margin, and Democratic Senator William J. Bulow narrowly won re-election.