I haven’t gotten to this sooner, as I’ve been dealing with kids, and a massive resurgence of the summer head-cold that I thought I’d shook. But it’s still worthwhile discussing a week later in the aftermath of convention.
A reckoning has been inching forward for how statewide candidates are selected in recent years, and after this last convention there has been more rumbling. And the last race at convention this year may have been the last nail in the coffin for convincing legislators that a change needs to be made in how the candidates for statewide office need to be selected.
After nearly a month of lead-time to declare his intent, in mid-afternoon on June 24th, with nearly no -time to spare, Steve Haugaard, who lost the race for Governor on a 3-1 basis (76-24%) entered the race for Lt. Governor at convention, with about 24 hours to campaign.
With the make-up of convention delegates, Haugaard lost to Rhoden on a tighter weighted vote of 56% to 44%. Literally, the Governor who won on a 3-1 basis was within 10% of being saddled with a running mate who she not only soundly defeated, but a person who often maligned her with some pretty harsh attacks. Which strongly raised a question that had been mentioned in passing as recently as the last time we went through this process – it is time to change the law and allow the Governor to appoint their running mate?
Many candidates for Governor do this in virtual terms now, by pre-announcing their running mate prior to convention, as Kristi did 4-years ago, and Democrats do in the run up to their convention. When things go as planned, it’s only a perfunctory blessing, but in a year like this, when voters clearly made their choice known, delegates elected to represent their precincts seem to have ignored their voters and gone awry.
I’ve heard chatter that there are legislators who want to move that pick directly to the Gubernatorial candidates. And really, unless we’re going to pick those offices individually, is there any justification to force a Lt. Governor onto the ticket with a Governor in a shotgun convention wedding?
After the convention results, there is also talk to move the selection of other candidates to the primary ballot.
There are those who think in addition of letting the Gov have their pick for their Lt Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State could easily be sent to the Republican electorate as a whole in the primary election, making the primary elections a little larger, and giving all Republicans an opportunity to have a say in who their candidates are.
Going back to the results of what happened at the GOP Convention, there has been concerned expressed that precinct representatives of the counties were not representative of the area they represented. One example was how Brown County came in for Secretary of State Steve Barnett.. or how it didn’t.
Brown County Republican Convention delegates came in nearly 2-1 against Steve Barnett.In 2018, Barnett won Brown County in the general election on a 68-31% basis, even with Democrats voting. But at convention, the vote against him were the Republicans in his home county. Was there any great scandal or controversy to cause them to abandon him? No. Not at all.
Which is one example. And brings up the question whether delegates are elected to represent their precinct, or if they are there to represent their own views.
All this talk might be just that – talk. But it’s talk coming after a convention designed for unity saw a lack of unity from some of the people there. As they found themselves shut out from the June Primary ballot, some might say they made an effort to seize power at the next place they thought they could, at the convention.
But is the convention supposed to be about seizing power, or about the party coming together after a primary and moving the best candidates forward? Because when factions within the party are doing their best to block resolutions recognizing the top of the ticket as they did this year, someone’s crazy aunt needs to settle down at the table before they ruin the holiday for everyone.
We have a lot of months to go until the election, and we can hope that there’s more of a spirit of cooperation that comes to the surface in that time to help all Republican candidates in November.
Or not. And that’s when we’ll start losing elections.
In the words of Rodney King, “can’t we all just get along?”