Dovetailing off of the article which appeared in the Collegian the other day, in Yesterday’s Sioux City Journal, SDSU PoliSci Professor David Wiltse is doubling down on his comments that the 2018 Gubernatorial race is going to come down to a clash of two champions – Congresswoman Kristi Noem and Attorney General Marty Jackley.
However, Wiltse and his counterpart at USD, Julia Hellwege, disagree on who holds the upper hand:
Professors David Wiltse of South Dakota State University and Julia Hellwege of the University of South Dakota said the race will boil down to two Republicans — U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem and South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley.
“South Dakota is becoming such a monolithically Republican state, it would take a near meltdown of a Republican candidate or campaign in order for (a Democrat to win),” Wiltse said.
Noem, 45, a former state legislator, was first elected to the sole South Dakota congressional position in 2010. Jackley, 47, has been the state’s attorney general since 2009,
when he was appointed to a vacancy and then won two elections.
“That is certainly the common wisdom, and I see no reason why it won’t shake down to those two,” Wiltse said.
and…
Wiltse said he thinks Noem has the upper hand one year out, since she can point to constituent help and has more campaign funds, plus the attorney general position is “not as prominent an office to build a record upon.”
Hellwege said Noem is well-known in South Dakota, but the fact that she spends much of her time outside of the state could create an opening for Jackley to campaign hard across the state’s counties.
So really, if the race is going to boil down to Jackley and Noem, it’s not as the article says with “1 year to go…” as the front runner in the race is going to be largely decided on June 5th.
If that’s the case, remember – petitioning begins on January 1. And early voting* begins April 20th.
(*Yes, I know it’s officially in-person absentee voting. But most of us call it early voting anyway)
Early voting needs to be cut back…April 20 is ridiculously early.
Wasn’t it established for the military votes and how long mail took to get back and forth, but nowadays that has been fixed with technology.
Another profound statement from a college professor.
Why are you always hating on Marty?
Marty is just trying to run a clean campaign.
Conventional wisdom is that Noem is the front runner. I believe Marty is in the driver’s seat. These professors need to get out of the bubble. I don’t know many Noem supporters.
20 rich farmers like her.
It is rather early for signs, but when I do see signs, most of them tend to be Jackley unless I am on the road between Brookings and Watertown.