Mercer on Dem’s woes – redistricting is a false narrative

Pat Powers

Bob Mercer’s column this week is interesting, in how it parallels Dan Lederman’s recent guest column in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader over why their column about the Democrat’s woes having nothing to do with redistricting:

Come 2018 South Dakota might have a ballot measure asking voters to change legislative redistricting. Currently the Legislature is in charge. The ballot measure would put responsibility with a special commission.

and…

There are many reasons Democrats don’t have more than six senators and 10 representatives among the 105 seats in the Legislature.

The biggest is turnout. Democrats don’t show up. The second is candidates. Democrats leave more seats open than Republicans do.

But redistricting? That’s a false narrative.

Read it all here.

15 thoughts on “Mercer on Dem’s woes – redistricting is a false narrative”

  1. Redistricting is a political process and not everyone is going to be happy with it. It is inevitable that someone is going to be inconvenienced.

    Think about this just a moment. Districts have roughly equal numbers of voters. If a candidate thinks their district’s voters don’t support them, that is their problem. It is incumbent on candidates to earn the support of voters, not for districts to be shaped for their convenience.

    Good heavens, South Dakota’s districts are perfectly reasonable and thoughtfully drawn. Complainers are making excuses for their own failure. Go out and EARN the support of voters.

  2. as per every other issue, the south dakota democrats’ focus on gerrymandering has nothing to do with local politics, and everything to do with supporting the national agenda of fomenting have-not political envy among various constituent classes. until democrats in south dakota actually choose to participate in local politics again and really seek to rebuild their brand as wise careful leaders, they will continue to shrink down to ultimately being just a few busloads of rabble rousers.

    1. Indeed. It is amusing every time Mr. Mercer tweets a link to an article 99% of the world can’t read.

  5. As stated before I disagree in that I believe gerrymandering has occurred but agree with SDGOP Dan Lederman on a number of points which the now South Dakota Democratic Party of Pot (SDDPP) make to shoot themselves in the foot.

    Their spin blog has been very successful in driving people away from the party. They do a great job offending South Dakotans. Their brain trust has everything figured out to bring victory in every election yet they fail miserably every cycle. Why even look at the SoS party registration numbers anymore? SDDPP’s registration numbers have been dropping every month for a long time.

    Our friend Grudznick has cornered the market on goats here in South Dakota getting them all from the frustrated Hard Lefties over there. 🙂

  6. Don’t forget everyone, District 15 is merely an act of God…… 😉

  7. i must amend my remarks. i am aware of the issue of the boundary lines in north rapid city, and the concerns raised. so i can’t say there are no local concerns. just few.

  8. I wonder if the Dems make such a stink about gerrymandering in blue states. The HI Senate is 100% D, with 25 of 25 seats belonging to the Ds. Is that gerrymandering?

    True gerrymandering is obvious. It’s not obvious in SD, because as Mercer wrote “It’s a false narrative.”

    1. Jerry,

      There is gerrymandering in some blue states too which I am against and believe an Independent entity should be in charge of that if possible.

      1. Miranda, it would be nice if your could provide convincing evidence of gerrymandering in SD. It’s one thing to believe it – another to prove it.

        Jerry

  9. Back in the 90’s when McPherson Co. was split in half going 1/2 W into 23 and the E half in with Brown Co. we could not have been put in a worse position than by going N into ND trying to get a person elected from here. I called it for what it was (BS) and voiced my displeasure with my friend Gov. Janklow who saw to it that in the 2000 redistricting all of McPherson County was put back in its proper place. District 23 which in and of itself is a huge area running from ND dang near down to I-90. Now if we could just get better candidates running from out here. hmmmmmm

    1. Charlie,

      McPherson County is probably the most or one of the most fiscally conservative counties in South Dakota. If Horse Trading were an Olympic sport the US team would have a few from McPherson County and the opposing team is going to get worked on! Ill bet there are plenty of Mayonnaise jars filled with coins buried up there.

  11. Miranda there are homes with supposedly thousands stashed in behind the lattice walls and some have been purchased, ripped out from the inside out and remodeled just to make sure fortunes were not lost.

    Give a German something to do and he will find a harder way to do it! 🤑

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