Republican activist and former State party Vice Chair Sue Peterson was selected to replace Steve Westra on the ballot tonight in a three way race between her, State Rep. Alex Jensen, and City Councilor Rex Rolfing, who had not been terribly active in Party politics.
Peterson was vice chair during Karl Adam’s tenure as chair back in the mid-2000’s, and will probably be a bit harder right than her predecessor, State Representative Steve Westra.
Sue is married to former State Legislator Bill Peterson, who was House Majority Leader from 2000-2004.
Thank you to all who ran, and congratulations to Sue, the SDGOP’s newest candidate for State House.
Rex is awful. Awful I say. Nothing conservative about him.
You knew how that one was going to go when I had to look up his party affiliation. The party precinct people are the ones who pick the replacements, and they tend to be fairly hard core party people and a bit more conservative.
If you aren’t active and you’re up against someone like Sue, who has been a party stalwart and very active participant for years, I don’t think Rolfing was going to sway many of them.
There’s a story that’s not being told about Alex Jensen. Why did a sitting representative not get the nod?
Despite being the person with the highest name ID, Rex’s fate was sealed when he stuck with the Mayor on the City Administration Building. I have yet to speak with a citizen, much less aRepublican, who supports the new building.
The outcome between Alex and Sue was less clear to me. On one hand you have a proven vote getter and effective campaigner. On the other hand you have a two-decade tireless and humble servant to others in the party.
Sue is a solid person whose only challenge will be to adjust her efforts and focus from helping others to herself. It will be her toughest test. As a legislator, she will do the work on issues in detail, and be an effective voice when she speaks.