Argus Leader has article on Democrat Gubernatorial speculation. Not that we can take most of them seriously.
The Argus Leader has an article on-line today where they’re speculating on who the Democrats could pick for Governor, and Argus political reporter Joe Sneve presents us with a list of six names, with several leaving us head scratching. Now, Joe is arguably one of the best political reporters they’ve had since Dave Kranz… but I’m not sure where he came up with some of these picks speculating on who the Democrats might run:
South Dakota Democratic Party vice chair Nikki Gronli told the Argus Leader last week the party is working with a handful of potential candidates considering a 2022 run for the governor’s mansion in Pierre. But formal decisions likely won’t come until late summer or early fall.
“No one is ready to come out just yet,” she said, adding several party members from across the state are in the exploratory phase of a campaign, conducting behind-the-scenes polling to assess where they stand and waiting to see who else emerges.
From here, he comes up with a list of six names .. and as noted, some of them seem to be coming out of left field, as Joe tells us to look at Billie Sutton, Dan Ahlers, Bob Sutton, Troy Heinert, Brendan Johnson, Mike Huether, and Steve Hildebrand.
Er…..Maybe we can take a couple of those names seriously. But there’s a number on the list that I just can’t.
Of the serious ones, all Democrats would kill to have Billie Sutton run again.. even though Kristi stripped him of his “he might be conservative aura” in the last election to show that he flip-flops on abortion, has mentioned exploring a state income tax, and the whole Bernie Sanders thing. So he’d be starting from that far behind.
Dan Ahlers would be one of the not serious ones, as evidenced from the abysmally bad campaign he ran for US Senate last election.
Avera CEO Bob Sutton switching parties and running? Where did Joe come up with this off-the-wall one? Bob has been Republican for years, and I don’t think that him dropping his position to get into politics is even conceivable. Nobody says I’m in high position in one of the state’s top organizations, and I want to drop it all to get beat up for the next year running for office, and then if I win, I have to live in Pierre, and still get beat up.
Troy Heinert is noted as telling “the Argus Leader he’s eyeing a statewide run.” I see that as one of the few serious possibilities, as I could see Heinert taking one for the team and running so Democrats have an opponent.
Brendan Johnson? I was just reading even today that he’s more interested in being an attorney and has no interest in running for office. He’d be on their wish list, but if he ran, I don’t think he’d want to be Governor.
Mike Huether running as a Democrat? Well, remember that time when he was their highest ranking elected Democrat, and the headline in the paper read “Huether Dumps Dems?” And he took inspiration from Donald Trump. I’m sure that would play well with the Democrat Faithful.
I’ve heard rumors that Huether would only re-write a 1 year contract with KELO for his show because he might run for office within the next two years.. but Democrats seriously running him as a candidate? I think that bridge was not just burned, but was blown up.
And rounding out the list is perpetual I-might-run Steve Hildebrand. Which is another one that can’t be taken seriously, since he’s been said to maybe-run for every race for the last decade. That’s another dog that isn’t going to hunt.
So, on the list might be Heinert as the most serious candidate, followed closely by Sutton.. and it drops off quickly?
Democrat’s hopes for Governor are looking as bleak as their congressional chances.