The Mid May 2017 Edition of the GOP’s roster of who’s running for what!

It’s been about 45 days since we last visited things, and while there haven’t been a lot of changes, we’ve solidified up some things.

The statewide races for Governor and Congress seem to be stabilizing, although, there’s a little time left for people to jump in. Mainstream GOP candidates Marty Jackley ad Kristi Noem are campaigning hard across the state, while fringe candidates ‘Dr’ Terry Lee LaFleur and Lora Hubbel are relying on gimmicks and social media, eschewing most GOP events.

Neal Tapio indicated he’s most definitely planning to run for Congress, joining the field currently held by former PUC Commissioner and Governor’s Chief of Staff Dusty Johnson, and Secretary of State Shantel Krebs. Dusty and Shantel are devoting most of their campaigning to the GOP Lincoln Day Dinner Circuit, with Dusty having a campaign kickoff today across the state in 3 cities.

Who might join either of those marquee races? There’s still lots of room to jump in the water, but I would look to Congress being the more accessible.

Insiders don’t expect State Sen. Stace Nelson, who placed third in the 2014 US Senate primary, to jump in a major statewide race in 2018. I’ve had people cite both health and lack of funds as reasons he’d likely stay out, although as recently as this past legislative session, it was noted to me that he was trying to talk people into it.

If Nelson would decide to run for statewide office this cycle, as an underperformer in 2014 at the statewide primary level, his only realistic path may be in a Constitutional office where the GOP Nominees are chosen at convention. At convention, the delegates tend to be more conservative, and may accept him as a nominee. Generally, the path after that is easy, as Democrats provide only nominal opposition, if any at all.

Larry Rhoden who defeated Nelson to place second in that same 2014 Senate race seems to be sitting quietly so far this cycle, although many see him as a genuine contender in the future or quite possibly as someone who might be tapped as a Lt. Governor candidate.   Depending on who wins the GOP nomination for Governor, that could be a genuine possibility for the affable State Representative.

And what about Senate President Pro Tempore Brock Greenfield? I’ve had people note to me that they could see him jumping into a Constitutional office race and doing well. The question would be “which of his contemporaries would he challenge?” We’ve got a pretty good field right now, so making the case why any of them should not go to Pierre might be the biggest hurdle for any contender.

We’re within days of starting a 12 month countdown to the June Primary Election of 2018, when things will really start to get crazy. Hold on to your seats!

14 thoughts on “The Mid May 2017 Edition of the GOP’s roster of who’s running for what!”

  1. 2018 South Dakota election cycle which will include the serious contenders, the dreamers and the flat out goofballs.

  2. I’d like to see Greenfield stay in charge of the Senate. He has so much influence right now wielding strength for conservatives. It would be a serious loss for conservatives to see him relinquish his control.

    1. He may lose control anyway if Lance & Stace run for higher offices and lose their seats to say Rampelberg and Peterson.

  3. If the constitutional offices like Sattgast going back to auditor can avoid term limits by switching back and forth it might be time to talk about combining some. Treasurer, auditor and Public lands maybe.

    I have never been in favor of that before but if we’ve come to the point that we are circumventing term limits and running the same candidate by flipping back and forth it might be a worthy time to make that case.

    1. On the other hand it’s good to see young fresh faces like Brunner, Barnett and Haeder getting a chance to establish themselves and no one wants to hurt the future.

  4. Anonymous 2:45:

    I must be missing something but I don’t see the logic that people going back and forth is a rationale for combining offices. The duties are still different.

    The most efficient isn’t always the best solution. Examples The most efficient way to handle the Sunday collection is to have one person gather the money, count it, and take it to the bank. Financial controls depend on division of responsibility, access, and control.

    I oppose the combination of the Constitutional Offices because the division of responsibilities is a Constitutional form of financial controls where the only means to circumvent them is to get about 10 people in on a conspiracy. Pretty hard to do. If you combine the offices, it suddenly gets a lot easier.

    1. I agree I also do not support combining offices – the governor should give power back to the constitutionals instead of talking about combining offices. Sattgast has the right to run again for Auditor if he wants to and go back an forth as many times as he wants until the voters say no.

      The constitution says not more than two consecutive terms. It doesn’t say anything about flip flopping back and forth or taking time off and then running for the same office again.

      I think the bigger problem is we don’t have a lot of young people who really want to move to Pierre. If these offices were in Sioux Falls you would see a lot more competition. I’m sure it is also a lot of work to run for office and we should praise all of the people who jump in and give it a go. They have a lot of guts.

      Secondly contested races are a good thing. There is nothing wrong with competition. It’s bad that there are not more democrats running.

  5. Rich has done a great job as both treasurer and auditor, and if the GOP convention selects him again, he’ll do great again.

  6. Will President Putin er I mean Trump or could it be Pence by then travel to South Dakota and campaign for the SDGOP nominee for US House of Representatives? Who knows what the Demos will have. The Martian or someone else.

  7. With the AG’s race I wouldn’t be surprised if Russell and McGuigan endorsed Fitzgerald. He’s the compromise candidate for those who don’t think Ravnsvorg has experience but still want a no BS ag. Fritz is looking tough.

    1. never happening…have you seen Fitzgerald at the Lincoln Day Dinners? Never gonna be AG, I am sitting there wondering how does this guy talk to a jury?

    2. I think Ravnsborg with all the information he is putting out at the Lincoln Day Dinners and other avenues is showing people that he does have the experience for the job.

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