The campaign for 2026 is off and running! And as things heat up, South Dakota War College has advertising opportunities open for reaching South Dakota’s opinion leaders based on a first-come, first-serve basis for available positions.

South Dakota War College just celebrated our incredible 20th anniversary of keeping an eye on political leaders, and offering commentary from a conservative Republican point of view. With politics continuing to be controversial and directly affecting people’s day to day lives – website traffic is good, and readers are watching what happens!

Advertisers – I have a number of spots open, and questions on ad prices, ad positions, and ad commitments may be directed to the webmaster by clicking here. Lots of open space available at the moment, such as the #1 spot on the left available, as well as spots #2, 3 on the right, and spots on both sides lower on the page. Ads run in their position through the site, meaning they are not rotated.  Advertising is available on a first-come first-served basis, and discounts are provided for extended commitments.

Please also take a moment to visit our long-time advertisers such as our friend and Senate Majority Leader South Dakota Senator John Thune,  Congressman Dusty Johnson, Republican United States Senator Mike Rounds and Summit Carbon Solutions. Of course, at Dakota Campaign Store, down on the right, you’ll find me getting ready for the elections with yard signs, postcards, and all the things a professional campaign needs to make an impression.

Thank you to our advertisers for your support, and please reach out if you’d like to join them!

I couldn’t listen, as I was recording Dakota Town Hall tonight, so I had the video on. And good gosh. Someone’s turkey timer was malfunctioning, and it looks like candidate Doeden got really overcooked, just in time for his announcement.

That sunburn might make for an uncomfortable night’s sleep. (If his announcement turnout doesn’t have him sleepless this evening.)

Hearing that at the campaign announcement tonight, Doeden has some politicians who are speaking at his event, led off by D29 State Senator John “California” Carley.

Also speaking are supposedly D1 State Rep, Logan Manhart, Minnehaha County Commissioner (and One-World Religion proponent) Cole Heisey, with his keynote speaker providing introductions D34 State Senator Taffy Howard.

This should be interesting.

The Doeden for Governor website is live. And before one word can come out of his mouth at his announcement, his campaign is already promoting outrageous falsehoods. Here’s the one that jumped out and grabbed me immediately.

Doeden claims to have supported conservative candidates “across the state his entire life?”

Well, that’s one liar whose pants are on fire.  Two words I would challenge him with: PROVE IT.

When his record of voting in the Republican Primary looks like this (as I’ve documented before)…

I would call that claim severely into question.

He voted (or at least I believe he did) in ONE Republican primary in 2024. Any other claim of his does not appear to be supported by the evidence.

His entire life?

Give me a break. That’s just an insult to anyone who has ever carried water for the elephant.

On the cusp of 4% Toby Doeden for Governor announcing, the 2% Jon Hansen for Governor campaign released this list of politicians endorsing politicians for political office:

There are quite a few on there that I would suspect candidate Doeden thought he had by virtue of dumping money into their campaigns, such as.. well most of them. Tom Pischke certainly saw a lot of Doeden cash, as did many others. I notice Al Novstrup also is eschewing his fellow Aberdonian.

Interestingly, others are announcing that they are separating themselves from Team Doeden on announcement day:

Doeden’s PAC lackey Brian Lewis is also inching away from Toby. No word yet on where he’s going to collect his next paycheck.

Interesting development on the fact that Toby can spend all he wants to try to buy elections, but money can’t buy him love.

Senator Mike Rounds’ Weekly Round[s] Up
MAY 19-25, 2025

Welcome to the Weekly Round[s] Up! We had yet another busy week out in DC. The highlight of my week was meeting with veterans who traveled to Washington this past week as part of the Midwest Honor Flight. There were 76 South Dakota veterans in attendance representing 37 towns across the state. This group of veterans selflessly served our nation in the Vietnam War, the Korean War and World War II. We’ll never be able to repay them for their sacrifice, but welcoming them to our nation’s capital so they can see the memorials that are dedicated to their service is a great tribute.  More on the rest of my week in my Weekly Round[s] Up:

South Dakota groups I met with: Tom Heinz, President of the Coffee Cup Travel Plazas; members of A.B.A.T.E. of South Dakota; Steve Bumann, Chief Investment Officer at BankWest; South Dakota members of the Zero to Three program; South Dakota veterans who were in town as part of the Midwest Honor Flight; South Dakota members of the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association; R.F. Buche, President of the G.F. Buche Company; South Dakota members of the Edward Jones Grassroots Task Force; South Dakota members of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society; the American Council of Engineering Companies of South Dakota; Jenny Briest with the Elizabeth Dole Foundation; and South Dakota Supreme Court Chief Justice Steven Jensen.

South Dakota towns represented: Aberdeen, Belle Fourche, Beresford, Brandon, Britton, Brookings, Custer, Dakota Dunes, De Smet, Deadwood, Dell Rapids, Flandreau, Freeman, Gann Valley, Hartford, Hot Springs, Huron, Lake Preston, Lead, Lennox, Menno, Mina, Mitchell, North Sioux City, Philip, Pierre, Rapid City, Redfield, Salem, Selby, Sioux Falls, Spearfish, Sturgis, Tabor, Tea, Vermillion, Wallace, Watertown, Wessington Springs, Wagner, White Lake and Willow Lake.

Other meetings: General David Allvin, Chief of Staff for the Air Force; and Dr. Ben Ebert, President and CEO of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

I spoke with members of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association ahead of their Legislative Action Day. I attended our Senate Bible Study, where our reading of the week was Matthew 5:13-16.

Hearings: I attended seven open hearings this past week. We had one hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), where we heard from Secretary of the Air Force, and fellow South Dakotan, Dr. Troy Meink. In addition, we had one hearing in SASC’s Subcommittee on Strategic Forces and one hearing in SASC’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, which I chair.

As our appropriations process picks up, so are our Appropriations Committee hearings! I attended three appropriations subcommittee hearings this past week. We had two hearings in the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Related Agencies. We heard from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in one hearing and Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez DeRemer in the other. In addition, we heard from Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum in a hearing of the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies.

Finally, we had one hearing in the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

Classified briefings: I had one classified briefing as part of my work on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Votes taken: 22 – many of these were related to a Congressional Review Act to overturn a rule in California. This rule, which would go into effect next year, would require 35% of vehicles sold in 2026 to be electric, and reaching 100% of new sales by 2035. If a manufacturer doesn’t meet that goal, they would be forced to pay a huge fine. While this is a California rule, it would affect manufacturing in states across the country, so we voted to overturn it.

My staff in South Dakota visited: Belle Fourche, Britton, Elm Springs, Mobridge, Sisseton, Sturgis and Wakpala.

Steps taken: 54,083 steps or 26.32 miles.

Photo of the week: Pretty special to meet World War II veterans William Butler and George Olson, both of Sioux Falls, at the National World War II Memorial in Washington this past week.

Had I mentioned the other candidate for Governor who has filed paperwork with the Secretary of State to run in 2026?  A Terry Philip Gleason of Chamberlain has apparently filed a Statement of Organization for running to become South Dakota Governor:

Terry Gleason Campaign Disclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

According to social media, his plan is to run for the office as an independent. (I do note that some people out there on the far right that just can’t wait to help him tell his story):

Except I’m thinking there’s going to be a little bump or two in the road that he’s going to face on the road to the South Dakota Governor’s mansion.

From a quick review of public records, it appears that Terry Phillip Gleason with the same address in Chamberlain is on a registry. And I don’t mean that he’s registered at Macy’s hoping to get Lenox china.  The South Dakota Sex Offender registry notes Gleason’s registration for a 6/26/2000 conviction of rape in the third degree (15 yo victim) for which he appears to have been sentenced out of Beadle County to time in the State Pen.

Normally, someone on the sex offender registry is barred from circulating petitions for office in South Dakota. BUT, there is a carveout in state law that notes “The provisions of § 12-1-32 do not apply, if the registered sex offender is circulating any nominating petitions on his or her own behalf for election to any federal, state, or local office for which the registered sex offender is otherwise qualified.”  So, he will be able to circulate his own petitions. 

It’s a free country and all if he has an interest in running for office. But, I don’t know that anyone else running for Governor has restrictions against being in schools and public parks through community safety zone restrictions (per SDCL 22-24B-23) as Mr. Gleason’s registry entry notes.  So, we’ll see if he ends up on the campaign trail this next year.

Independent petitions to run for Governor are due in the Secretary of State’s office on April 28th, 2026.

A reader just sent me this photo from Wylie Park in Aberdeen. It looks like Toby Doeden’s Scowl Express has arrived:

I hate to tell Toby, but he just spent several thousand dollars wrapping a hundred thousand dollar RV to scowl at people across South Dakota.

Which DOESN’T ADVERTISE THE OFFICE HE’S RUNNING FOR!?! WHAT BONEHEAD DOESN’T PUT THE OFFICE ON A CAMPAIGN VEHICLE!?!

Amateur hour has commenced.

With the Doeden announcement happening today, I was noticing that both the Argus Leader and KELOland news posting on the Doeden for Governor campaign filing with both noting his attempt to  bring Mark Robinson to SD after the whole “I’m a black Nazi” thing.

But, I think they also need to be reminded about actions by Doeden that were far more egregious:

In the article by the Dakota Scout, don’t forget this passage regarding Toby:

The 49-year-old, in a post last spring, also denied the validity of statistics that one in four Jewish Americans had been victims of hate in the year prior, figures widely shared by anti-discrimination organizations at the time.

“THIS IS FAKE. BEAT IT,” reads a now-deleted post on an account registered to Doeden.

Doeden, who in announcing he was exploring a run against South Dakota’s three-term Congressman referred to Johnson and his colleagues on Capitol Hill as “clowns,” told The Dakota Scout he makes “no apologies for my stances.”

“I’m unapologetically pro-Second Amendment, and I think Joe Biden is one of the worst presidents in history. Most South Dakotans would agree,” he said, adding that his tweet about Jewish Americans being subjected to acts of hate was taken out of context.

Read that here.

Considering what happened with the Israeli Embassy staff members last week at the Capital Jewish Museum, Doeden’s claim about context seems… lacking.

My heart breaks for Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were murdered last night at the Capital Jewish Museum. Antisemitic violence has no place in the United States.

We’re praying for their families and all of our friends at the Israeli Embassy, where the two victims… pic.twitter.com/IojnTD7JHN

— JD Vance (@JDVance) May 22, 2025

You have to wonder if he has any regret over being part of the antisemitic media that caused the shooting in DC?

On the cusp of his announcement that he’s running to be the Governor of South Dakota, Doeden’s tweet hasn’t aged well. Not at all.

I just caught this; The Hansen/Lems Campaign, after having announced on April 24th all under the banner of a Political Action Committee, the People First PAC, quietly slipped the paperwork in on May 13th to move over to running their operation through a traditional political campaign committee, Jon Hansen for Governor:

JonHansen4GovSDCFDisclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

There doesn’t seem to be any announcement that accompanied this operational change, they just slid it under the door without a peep.

The new disclaimer comes to light at the end of a new extended campaign video that was released on facebook yesterday, as well as a quiet change made to their website:

Ironically, in the video Hansen declares in part that “South Dakota Families deserve a government that puts people first, not special interests or corporate lobbyists,” ignoring the fact that he has disclosed that he derives significant parts of his income from being co-chair of a special interest organization.

This sudden declaration might be the reason behind the PAC scrubbing that they didn’t seem so concerned about when they first launched. (But, this is a political campaign, so that will probably not be mentioned.)

Stay tuned.