Way off the bingo card into things we didn’t expect, Republican Gubernatorial candidate Toby Doeden issued a statement of support for Christine Erickson via facebook this afternoon:
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Christine’s response to the endorsement is as follows:
“Toby’s support was not on my bingo card today either. My campaign goal is the same as my goal on day one as Mayor—unity. I’ve been proud to assemble a broad base of support for my campaign, and that list grows every day. The people of Sioux Falls want a leader who knows how to deliver on public safety, fiscal discipline, and a great quality of life. That’s what I bring to the table. That’s why I expect to earn the most votes again on June 23.”
Comments like this from Toby make me think about voting for him… We’ll see about the next 8 weeks.
Just as it was designed to do…
I don’t see Tenhaken or anyone else coming out forcefully for Erickson.
It’s time for republicans to rally around christine.
Why? Just because she is a Republican running in a non-partisan race?
Ten Haken gave a soft endorsement of Jamie about 6 months ago
He’s attempting to make in roads with moderates, that’s it. If he comes across as magnanimous, he thinks they might forget his past couple years of political shenanigans. Time will tell if he’s right.
Nearly half of Doeden’s votes on Tuesday were from low-information voters who were fed up with Johnson’s TV ads and saw Doeden as the alternative. Someone keeps bidding Doeden back to 51 percent on Polymarket, but if the runoff were today, Rhoden would win.
His deceptive mailers definitely helped him. Uninformed people like pictures. “Oh, there’s a picture of Toby and Marty with the word endorsement on it. They must be together.” Times the mailers with the unwanted, unapproved implied endorsements with legislators across the state? Deception at its finest.
If I were Erickson, I wouldn’t be putting this on my campaign material running up to the run-off vote. Doeden’s true character is showing…. a name caller and would be dictator. A true Trump politician. How’s that worked out for the average South Dakotan, business owner, farmer, families that need insurance, and schools that need property taxes to keep them running. Another promise that can’t work and won’t work. We’re pretty tired of promises that don’t work or are never implemented.
South Dakota failed public schools don’t “work” at all via every academic performance metric. They are abymal failures and socialist indoctrination centers. The taxpayers are not going to fund abysmal failure. School choice and opt-outs are the future in South Dakota and are coming very soon. Jamie Smith and Tim Walz are two peas in a pod.
Are you insane?
voting for Doeden that is.
Every teacher and school official in this state should show up in droves to support Rhoden. Doeden has criticized schools and degraded the “indoctrination systems” over and over. This from a man who only lasted one semester of college. I am so sick of this pompous oaf, Wonder what he scored on standardized tests in public school; bet not very well.
“The future of Sioux Falls is at stake.” Sure… but I live here in Sioux Falls and I do not need Toby-Dick telling me how to vote. He is the most negative, disgusting figure ever to run for governor in my memory. Just watch his election night speech and see for yourself.
Toby should be focused on his own campaign and stay out of our mayor’s race.
Hi Elk: I agree with your assessment of Toby. And guess who his disgusting schtick is modeled after? That’s right, the most negative, disgusting person ever to serve as president in our lifetimes. Now you know how the rest of us (and most of the world) feel about Toby’s mentor and role model.
Sad! 🤮🤮🤮
Well, at least Trump was elected before he tried running the world. And he can be likable, at times. This guy? He reminds me of that aggressive drunk in the bar that will clock you when you aren’t paying attention.
Have you lived in Aberdeen too? Bc that is EXACTLY the type of guy Doden is, Pompous jerk all the way back to high school. Rhodes has done a few things I don’t agree with, but at least he is a decent man. Rhodes doesn’t need to parade his wife out to tell us “trust me people, my husband isn’t a piece of crap” like Doeden does.
Rhoden not Rhodes. Damn auto correct
Toby Doeden has absolutely no right to lecture anyone about party unity after spending months fueling internal Republican divisions and launching aggressive attacks against the true conservatives with his populist anger. It is the height of hypocrisy to accuse other local leaders of playing petty politics when Doeden himself just faced a cease-and-desist letter from 15 conservative legislative candidates for using their likenesses on misleading campaign mailers without permission. Real unity is built on mutual respect and shared principles, not on deceptive campaign tactics and the toxicity that has defined his recent political operations. If Doeden truly cared about putting the best interests of Sioux Falls and South Dakota ahead of bloated egos, he would stop being a bully and recognize that his own scorched earth methods are the primary source of division within the party. Christine would have been fine without his endorsement. Not like he has genuine leadership to back up an endorsement anyway.
“The people of Sioux Falls want a leader who knows how to deliver on public safety, fiscal discipline, and a great quality of life”
Honestly tell me how Doeden will do that? How exactly would eliminating property taxes affect local governments and schools? What spending would be cut? What specific policies would reduce crime? What measurable outcomes would improve quality of life?
Nope let’s keep vote on baseless campaign promises.
From the article:: During the debate Tuesday, Doeden gave some broad hints. He suggested cutting state government spending back to the 2023 and 2024 levels. KELOLAND News looked at the numbers afterward and found that Doeden’s approach wouldn’t come close to working. Here’s the rough math.
An annual report for property taxes payable in 2025 wasn’t yet available from the state Department of Revenue. But DOR’s most-recent report showed property taxes statewide payable in 2022 totaled $1,532,463,569, rose to $1,654,891,957 payable in 2023, and reached $1,788,932,192 payable in 2024.
State government general-fund spending in 2023 meanwhile totaled $2,230,478,348. State government general-fund spending in 2026 was estimated to be at least $2,546,445,265. Returning state government to the 2023 spending level would have generated roughly $316 million of savings this year. Doeden would need to find at least six times that much savings within state government to make his approach work.
Doeden also mentioned phasing out the state sales tax on food. A similar proposal, which South Dakota voters rejected in 2024, was officially estimated by the South Dakota Legislative Research Council to potentially reduce state government general fund revenue by $123.9 million for the current 2026 fiscal year. That would also mean food-tax revenue wouldn’t be available for property-tax relief, either.
https://www.keloland.com/…/taxes-noem-split-four…/…
Thank you! This is another example of a long pattern of Toby Doeden coming up with anything that people would want to hear with often times no ability or no intention of following thru. Local Brown County and Aberdeen social media pages are filled with posts of how this guy for decades has burned people from tenants after a purchase of an apartment complex and prior to a major taxpayer incentivized major renovation he sought, purchasing businesses and then closing them down with employees left out to dry after he promised he would take care of them, experience on the car sales, contractors who almost went under from buying materials where it took a long time to get paid. Some of this goes back prior to getting into the car business in the Groton area.
We need investigative journalism right now for South Dakota’s top job in the executive branch.
And yet on election night Toby Doeden won Brown County and the city of Aberdeen.
Brown County:
Toby Doeden 32%
Dusty Johnson 28%
Jon Hanses 21%
Larry Rhoden 17%
City of Aberdeen:
Absentee(Those voted earlier)
Dusty Johnson 34%
Toby Doeden 25%
Jon Hansen 22%
Larry Rhoden 17%
Vote Centers in Aberdeen(Americinn/Courthouse/Best Western) Average:
Toby Doeden 36%
Dusty Johnson 26%
Jon Hansen 20%
Larry Rhoden 17%
The fact is the ADC(Hanigan, Sommers, and Washnok) were able to maintain their leads after absentee votes means a number of Doeden voters voted in favor of them as well.
How many registered Republicans voted during this primary verses last cycle?
I was at the Brown County Commission today for their canvassing.
This year officially was 4,020 votes(44.8% all Republican voters) SDSOS’s site had it at 48.43%(According to their voter roll)
In 2024 total ballots counted was 4,464 but that included the Democrats.
Best comparison I could make is look at District 3 Senate race between Carl Perry and Katie Washnok
2024:
Carl Perry 1,313 Katie Washnok 1,201
2026:
Katie Washnok 2,508 Carl Perry 1,443
Toby, and yes along with Dusty ran one of the dirtiest unethical mudslinging Campaign that I have seen in a long time.
Crazy but over 1/2 of the dozens upon dozens of mailers i got there was a vote for Toby on front and Attacks against Hansen and Rhodan on the back.
Did find it interesting the connection between Toby and Erickson. She is apparently the president of South Dakota Auto Dealers and Trucking Associations
TOBY HAD PICTURES AND SO-CALLED ENDORSEMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO DID NOT SUPPORT HIM. HE DID NOT EVEN GET PERMISSION FROM THEM. BUT THAT IS THE GUY THAT IS GOING TO SAVE SOUTH DAKOTA…WHAT A DISHONEST PERSON.
With endorsements like these….I’d stay far away if I was Erickson. Wow, can he get any more pathetic? I hope Rhoden gets rid of this bafoon for good
Her response is interesting. Did she want his endorsement? It doesn’t really sound like it.
Her response was world class. She didn’t outright accept his endorsement but didn’t decline it. She neither alienated nor embraced him and his group. Pivoted back to her focus and goals for Sioux Falls. It was very well crafted. If I lived in Sioux Falls I would be voting for her based on this response alone. Shows she knows how to navigate through tough positions.
Toby hates the establishment, the special interest, the big money candidate, the insider. So he endorses… a politician / lobbyist / special interest / big money candidate???
He wouldn’t know anything about Ericksons background or anything about lobbyists, special interest groups..or about anything. You have to be around the legislative process to know. He probably does not even know how to find the capitol.
If only Doeden’s voters and supporters knew what this he was really like for those of us who really know him in my opinion. If elected Governor, it will not take many of them long to realize they were conned. He is not a very smart person and is intellectually lazy. Key people were in place two owners before him so a they could help a Chimpanzee if one were to legally purchase Aberdeen Chrysler Center instead of Toby. A Chimp would have been much more likeable and trustworthy.
A Doeden administration would be disastrous for South Dakota. He could be the first QAnon Governor elected in the state. Where the attitude towards ethics would be so yesterday.
So enlighten us, what is he really like?
I wonder if Jamie’s vision of Sioux Falls includes a significant amount of rainbow parades, tampons in men’s bathrooms, and then replacing Paul’s love for Haitians with Somalians so we can have some quality learing centers. The Augustana way. Diversity will be Sioux Falls strength lol
Here you go again. I don’t think the “rainbow parade” talk is going to be a winning message this year. Stop being scared of everyone who doesn’t look like you or think like you. You shout… LIBERTY!… but you don’t really mean it.
Liberty: It is the power to act, believe, or express oneself according to one’s own choice, provided it does not infringe on the rights of others.
Oh… let me get this straight. You are OK with tampons in men’s bathroom. Gottcha
I’d be able to ignore it if it were there. Would you be tempted to insert it somehwere?
Why you so weirded out by tampons? If I saw them in a bathroom I’d go “oh ok. Those aren’t ment for me” and move on with my life. So weird to fixate on.
Toby “copy and paste” Doeden is at it again. How many non-endorsements can he put on a mailer?!!
More importantly, WHEN WILL HANSON CONCEDE?
Powers backs Doeden backing Erickson as soon as his boy Dusty is ousted.
If growing a backbone is too tall an order you could at least grow a pair Pat.
Doubt I’ll hear from you as your mouth is full of Doeden and you’re in full “yes daddy I’ll have another” mode trying to stay relevant in the SDGOP.
Yeah, incredible profiles in courage with this one. Watch this blog’s tone shift and portray Doeden as some great unifier.
Good for Pat. We don’t need to hate each other.
Tell that to Toby.
I have long thought highly of Greg Jamison. But his endorsement of Smith is a shock and disturbing. Jamie Smith stands against everything Jamison fought for in the legislature. It’s nice to see Doeden being a team player.