[4] Hermanson sought the leadership of the new party in 1998, facing off against Rod Gantefoer, a former Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan (MLA), and political newcomer Yogi Huyghebaert.

Under Hermanson, the Saskatchewan Party campaigned on an ambitious fiscal conservative platform, calling for major corporate and income tax cuts, along with a number of controversial and social conservative policies, from a commitment to consider privatizing crown corporations to work-for-welfare policies and an end to public affirmative action.

[8] The new party shocked the province in winning a small plurality of the popular vote, but it was completely shut out in the urban centres of Regina and Saskatoon.

[9] The party again campaigned on a platform of tax reductions and decreased government involvement in the economy, but it remained bogged down by questions about its conservatism and its plans for crown corporations.

Hermanson continued to state that he would be willing to entertain offers for the province's crown corporations and the NDP, now led by Lorne Calvert, made this a focal point of their campaign.

[17] In 2007, Hermanson was appointed by the federal government to lead the Canadian Grain Commission for a five-year term beginning in January 2008.

[18] In 2017, during the leadership race to replace Brad Wall as Saskatchewan Party leader, Hermanson was criticized for commenting on and sharing an Islamophobic article on Twitter.