Billie Sutton one of Dem’s point people for Obamacare in South Dakota. Trump election derailed plans to work with Hillary on it.

If you’ve noticed the TV Commercials out there in the 2018 General election, there’s one that makes a point regarding Democrat Candidate for Governor Billie Sutton’s support for the expansion of Obamacare in South Dakota:

The commercial cites Democrat Party press releases in 2015, but there’s more proof out there that you just see in the commercial.

In 2012, as provisions in Obamacare were starting to be litigated, Sutton was one of only 4 Senators to vote against setting a process for rolling back the federal mandate of Obamacare in South Dakota if it was to be found unconstitutional:

 

In 2013, Sutton was one of the four Democrat bill sponsors of a state measure to expand Obamacare.

And in 2014, Sutton was one of the few Senators who objected to a resolution calling for the repeal and defunding of Obamacare:

In fact, time and again, Sutton has been one of the Democrats’ point people on the expansion of Obamacare in South Dakota, and one of the driving forces behind expansion. As noted in this interview with Sutton, in the run up to the 2016 election cycle, he was preparing to move forward on Obamacare with the support of President Hillary Clinton on Obamacare:

I had the opportunity recently to speak with Billie Sutton, State Senator from the 21^st District (Bon Homme, Charles Mix, Gregory and Tripp counties – around the Lake Andes and Winner area of the state) and Minority Leader, about the State of the State’s Democratic Party. Sutton conceded that this November’s election did not turn out quite as expected, and that the Democrats face a challenge at the national, state and local levels.

“Not much happened the way we anticipated. I think that there was a pretty wide belief that Democrats were going to get out to vote and a lot of Republicans wouldn’t because they weren’t satisfied with Trump as a candidate when in fact it was the exact opposite…

and…

But what happened at the federal level trickled down to South Dakota, especially when it came to health care and the Affordable Care Act. “We were extremely hopeful about our Medicaid expansion bill. Had Hillary won, we would have been debating Medicaid expansion with the support of the Governor.

and…

In the immediate future, Sutton predicts “I think you’re going to see a shift, as the President-Elect takes office and campaign promises are not possible… There’s going to be some frustration and some people will come back and say we need more moderates in the legislature to get things done.

Read that here.

As you dig into it, the Noem commercial only skims the surface of Sutton’s commitment to Obamacare, as well as his plans to work with Hillary Clinton. Unfortunately for him, the election of Trump intervened.

And the rest is historical fact.