Huether looking at Governor or Congress

KSFY TV interviewed Mike Huether, and on the heels of announcing his abandonment of the Democrat Party, he told them that he’s looking at running for Governor or Congress:

“i go as hard at this job as mayor or as public servant as i possibly can.” In a sit down interview at the Old Courthouse Musuem, Huether tells us he and his wife Cindy are in the midst of deciding what to do next where his political career is concerned. “Yeah i would love to be the governor of South Dakota. I’d love to be the President of the United States. I’d love to represent South Dakota as their senator or representative.”

The mayor tells KSFY he believes he could be a change maker in Pierre should he choose to run for governor, something he says many people have urged him to do. “I think they’ve seen what we’ve been able to accomplish in Sioux Falls and there’s this hope that we can do it maybe in another role as well.”

But the mayor also tells us he sees a compelling reason to run for U-S House in hopes of serving in Washington, saying as an Independent he would want to make Congress more cooperative and less partisan.

Read it all here.

Is it me, or does he assume he’s a lot more popular than he really is?

53 thoughts on “Huether looking at Governor or Congress”

  1. First, you’re biggest mistake is the final line of your post. He’s a popular mayor of a city with a surrounding area that makes up nearly 30% of the state population. You’re under estimating him and that’s a huge mistake.

    Second, he’s running for house. If you interpret his attacks on Pelosi, Democrats in DC and the gridlock in Congress as a signal that he’s going to run for governor, then you’re a worse oracle than Madam Cleo was.

    1. In addition to being a poor judge of his popularity, you apparently can’t read plain text. Click on the source article, and look at the top of the page. “Huether eyes run for governor, U.S. House.”

      It is the title of the article, for crying out loud.

    2. I also wonder if this isn’t pay back for that joke johnson made about Huether being the states biggest butt hole at the governors hunt two years ago. Huether stormed around the room.

    3. How many Sioux Falls residents would vote for him? Just because Sioux Falls makes up 30% of the population doesn’t mean he will get all the Sioux Falls votes. He is not popular with me or my wife, so there are two votes he won’t get.

      1. Exactly. He got 56% in his last race against a fairly weak candidate. Getting 56% of SF is not nearly enough unless you can do well in other parts of the state. I see no other stronghold for Huether (besides MAYBE Yankton).

        1. Yankton isn’t all that strong an area for him. Michels? Absolutely. Huether- people don’t really care.

        2. 150,000 registered voters are in Minnehaha and Lincoln Counties. I’m going to guess most of these voters have heard of Mike Huether good or bad. His name ID will be good. I’m going to guess that few know Dusty Johnson. Name ID is important. Just ask trump. That means he is buying a message in a campaign and not name Id.

          Davison has 11,500 registered voters. (Johnson’s county)

          Yankton has almost 14,000 registered voters.

          Huether has a good platform and a great chance to build his reputation.

          His play is obviously to expand his appeal to republicans over the next two years.

          I’m not pro Huether I just think republicans are foolish to dismiss him and his platform.

          1. I don’t think anyone is dismissing him. Pat wouldn’t be posting all this stuff about him if he wasn’t a legitimate candidate. But that doesn’t mean he’s even close to being a favorite or even a likely winner. Certainly being the Mayor of SF gives him strong name ID, but that doesn’t always translate into votes. He has been a polarizing figure in SF and there are plenty of people who will vote against him BECAUSE they know who he is.

          2. I think more people know what he looks like since he took advantage of taxpayer advertising with the billboards.

          3. People will see how strong Dusty Johnson is when he reports over $100k raised and in the bank in the first month and a half he’s been in.

                1. Varilek announced on December 4th, 2011 and posted something like $103,000 for that final quarter.

                  1. Dusty won’t do that well. Varilek was fundraising full time and was the unanimous pick of the Dem establishment. If Dusty does half that well (to start) I would be shocked.

            1. Oh please. Dusty has the field to himself. He can raise 200k when no one is running against him and maybe he can box everyone out. This is the low hanging fruit part of his campaign so I expect a big number.

              What did Mickelson raise? $600k in a quarter. And that was with Noem and Jackley as likely opponents.

          4. In SD, having an R next to your name makes it way easier to get elected than if you have an I. That alone puts Johnson oe Krebs over the top.

        3. He’ll do well in other parts of the state. Unlike Johnson, Huether can point to a fairly positive record of accomplishment in Sioux Falls. Are some decisions not popular with many? Absolutely, but those can easily be explained away as the tough decisions that needed to be made.

          On the GOP side, I think Krebs is the strong candidate agains Huether. Johnson will get too in the weeds on policy and start confusing people. Huether and Krebs both “get stuff done” and that plays better with a general electorate than anything Dusty had going.

          1. I like Shantel, but a run now has a lot of risk. She could build her name ID and show her competence in the next four years as Secretary of State. If she runs now and loses, she’s pretty much out. I can’t see her going back to the legislature.

                1. It isn’t like Marty or Dusty have ever had the challenges of the races they are now in though…Noem has beat Herseth

                  1. Yes but Kristi has never had the scrutiny a front runner usually endures. She also rode the biggest wave since 1920 something. Nelson and Curd were not Marty Jackley. I mean let’s be honest neither have much of a personality for that level of politics. She was up on SHS by double digits a week after the primary was over. 2 years before that SHS won every county in SD. That’s a strange year.

                    Marty has really never had to campaign. He has had it easy and good with appointments. Big learning curve if he thinks he can beat Kristi though. He needs a better team that isn’t dragged down by Marsy’s law.

                  2. In 2004 Thune, Diedrich and Rounds bankrolled Dusty. He’s never had to pony up.

                    In 2004 there were only three statewide republicans running and they had huge money to spend he road the wave.

            1. What can Shantel run for in four years? Every seat she could want will be filled by a Republican.

    4. Obviously this isn’t direct directly toward PP, but rather the GOP in general. I read this as a “royal you” rather directed toward an individual.

  2. He’s also extremely well positioned against Dusty Johnson because it would be a businessman against a career state employee. ’03 rounds policy analyst, ’05 puc commissioner, ’11 chief of staff to Daugaard (did not serve one day of second term puc), ’15 vantage point consulting (private sector, Pierre Mitchell commute to far need to be with family), ’16 announced for congress.

    It’s a similar reason Chris Nelson lost to Noem. 20 years state employee hurt him.

    Larry Rhoden is private sector, rancher tough. Plus he got second in us senate race.

  3. I just heard Jeff Partridge wants to run. Republicans will have lots of good options to choose from. Huether is a good candidate. Compare him to Hawks and Robinson for congress and he’s the best recruit non Republicans could get not named Herseth.

    I’m surprised Herseth hasn’t announced that she is an Independent yet.

    1. Howie is pushing Disanto, Disanto wanted to run but Tapio is trying to undercut her with her base. Disanto clearly has a more proven voting record to carry that banner. She’s substance not just talk.

  4. No easy path for Huether but the easiest would be Congress. A strong Sioux Falls backing, not being held to the hard left by running as a Democrat (therefore bringing Dem voters turned Indy into the fold), and a weak Dem candidate (Doubt Johnson would jump in if there is a spoiler) could spell a perfect storm victory for Huether. Kinda like how he became Mayor in Sioux Falls.

    1. Point being we should take Huether very seriously for any position he runs for. Do not underestimate the guy.

      1. I agree. Huether should not be underestimated. I think Congress is the more likely path now that Kristi Noem is in the Gov race. Huether either runs as an Independent against a weak or no Democrat opponent, or he is brazen enough to register Republican.

      1. Why would anyone want to assume Huether is weak as a statewide candidate? He’s the mayor of the largest city in South Dakota. He just screwed over the SDDP by indicating he will run as an independent. Paula Hawks and every up and coming Dem now know that their path is gone.

        Remember when the GOP nominated Dale Bell in 1986? That lead to Tim Johnson serving in DC from 1987-2014. Once someone gains a foothold not even a guy like John Thune can be counted on to knock them off.

        Republicans went from being able to nominate anyone to having serious decisions to make because Huether will be in the general election automatically. If V had passed he never would have had this opportunity.

  5. Huether, Knudsen and Rhoden can all grow the big tent. Huether should just have a press conference with these two, plus Rounds and Daugaard that he’s a republican, and I’m sure all four would back him.

  6. The other thing to remember is that Gordon Howie ran as an Indie in 2014. Let’s say a Democrat doesn’t run for congress and it’s Huether and Howie and a Republican.

    Huether vs Republican and Independent Tea Party

    Who does that hurt? Howie got 3% in 2014 – 8,000 votes

    Marking got 6% in 2010 as the I – 19,000 votes

  7. I heard Huether on Belfrage Wednesday morning, and he came off as arrogant. He is willing to “sacrifice” for us poor South Dakotans, and he is more of an “executive” type.

    What his change of party affiliation says to me is that he realizes he can’t win State-wide as a Demo, so he’ll change his name to try to pretend he’s something he’s not. It also tells me that he doesn’t hold any firm, foundational beliefs but will change with the wind, just like Obama and Slick Willy: put up a finger and see which way the wind blows.

    I am not impressed with Huether or his supposed reasons for changing his affiliation, and I would hope that conservatives and libertarians wouldn’t buy into his shape-shifting.

  8. Huether told Kyle Schoenfish to switch to republican after Schoenfish lost for the legislature as a democrat. Huether is making the switch methodically.

    1. That’s interesting; it seems to give us Mike’s Modus Operandi which is to make yourself appear to be something you are not simply to win.

        1. It what way is Thune not a South Dakotan? Other than he has a job in DC that WE sent him to do. The dude is as South Dakotan as they come and has made sure he never loses that.

          1. He’s about as South Dakotan as Daschle, except Thune is smart enough to keep a local drivers license.

  9. Huether’s independent EGO will be running for Governor. Only wise to alienate a national party when you plan to run against it in a red state as a pretender. Look, Marcy’s Law and IM22 were passed by a Dem base and ill-advise Republican partnership. Don’t think for a minute that Mike won’t be tapping into that combo. And his best wish would be to put Kristi Noem in a Jeb Bush straight jacket !

  10. Why don’t we just embrace Huether. His policies couldn’t be that much different than the South Dakota republican party. He would probably be willing to keep growing state government, attempt to expand medicaid, keep the shifting costs onto local governments, veto any transgender showers bill, veto any second amendment bills and continue placing more drugers on the streets. What could he do that would undermine these policies.

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