What form will the new political reality take in the next election? Changes to be proposed for GOP Convention, possibly the primary.
Two and a half years ago, back in mid-2019, I charted out a timeline of how the top political races in the state looked for Republicans moving forward several years into the future.
Not that long after I wrote it, my thoughts on 2022 seem to have been largely thrown out the window when I predicted that 2022 would be “a quiet time.” It was anything but. However, I was looking at it with a crystal ball before Jason Ravnsborg’s accident which affected a lot of things, as it exacerbated the divisions and hostilities some members of House Leadership had against the Governor, as well as the Senate.
It also didn’t take into account the rise of, for lack of a better term, a wave of Trump-worshipping populism within the GOP which is less concerned with getting Republicans elected as a whole versus getting “their version”of a Republican elected to office. It’s an undercurrent that’s always been there, but this group, where a group of the hard-right is Republican in name only, preferring to identify themselves as “conservative” as opposed to Republican. They’re more dogmatic than pragmatic in their approach towards policy, and it shows.
Since the time of that 2019 column, Republicans have had two wildly successful elections under the leadership of State GOP Chair Dan Lederman, who has opted to pass on another run for chairman. The heir apparent to the State GOP Chairmanship, State Senator John Wiik, appears to be running with the blessing of the major officeholders, and at least at this juncture, is coming in with a clean slate and the opportunity to bridge gaps.
The party process is important in this equation, as there are fundamental changes coming up on how statewide candidates are selected. Some might pooh-pooh the role of political parties, but governments don’t have the people or the resources for basic things such as informing people about issues, and turning out voters and engaging them in the process. Political parties do that messy work at the grassroots. And one portion of that process is presenting and filtering choices for those who have chosen to affiliate with them.
That primary process has been a bit messy for State Republicans as of late. With a convention process that seems at least dented, if not damaged to the point some would call it broken. The basic problem which has developed over several elections is that the party convention process has become less representative, and more a contest of who can recruit the most delegates to register en masse for precinct positions.. only for the recruits to never be seen again. And the mainstays of the GOP seems to be a bit weary of this.
As a result of the last Republican Convention, the SDGOP will be voting on bylaw changes which will affect how candidates are selected, which in turn will drive changes in state law in the next legislative session.
One leading proposal from the party I’m hearing about is to add Republican elected officials to the roster of voting delegates able to participate at the biennial Republican State Convention. Which has always been a little odd that they haven’t automatically been given that status. There are other proposals out there, but this is the one which is getting the most attention. The belief is that this may temper the convention, and the candidates selected at it, and make it more representative of the GOP as a whole by bringing in people who actually answer to constituents on a daily basis.
Depending on what the SDGOP moves forward, the legislature as a whole will assess how they want to move forward with the candidate primary selection process for constitutional officers.
It is a given that Lt. Governor will move to a post-primary appointment by the Gubernatorial candidate. That is nearly certain, and made little sense to split the ticket in such a manner.
What is also a strong possibility from speaking with members of the legislature is that there is movement to have Attorney General and Secretary of State join the Governor and federal candidates as being selected in the primary. And leave the remaining positions to the parties. Some who want to fix the process express that they will be happy just putting AG & SOS to voters. And that actually works with the order of ballot, where you aren’t skipping over one race to get to another:
One thing that some don’t automatically notice is that Secretary of State is before Attorney General in the order of succession, so it would be challenging to put AG to the petition process and not SOS, unless they’re going to change the succession law as well.
But could they go farther?
There is also the possibility that lawmakers may choose to take the selection of all party candidates for all constitutional offices out of the hands of the convention process and leave it to party voters statewide through the petition process. That may be less certain, but you never know what you’ll end up with once people start legislating.
How could delegates still have a voice if everyone went to a primary ballot? If there was a move in that direction, the party system in South Dakota could change even more.
In years past, when changes to the presidential primary process in the state has come up, there has been talk of moving the Republican convention significantly earlier in the year so the group could have a louder voice in nominating a Presidential candidate for State Republicans. Think of a caucus election process.
If all Constitutional Candidates were moved to the ballot, that would not preclude the GOP from changing it’s bylaws to allow an endorsement for constitutional candidates in a primary. The endorsement would be non-binding among voters, but it would hold significant weight in a primary election if one candidate had the endorsement, and others didn’t. That could be in the cards if Legislators decided to go all the way with changing the process.
We still have a month and a half before we see what form that the convention reform process will take.
But, change very well may be on deck for the next election.
Allison Morrisette assumed her duties as the state’s inaugural Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Coordinator on Monday, Nov. 28. An enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Tribe, Morrisette last served as Adult Diversion Coordinator for the Pennington County State’s Attorney. “I am excited to begin this work,” said Morrisette. “A lot of my relatives feel they are overlooked. My job with the Attorney General’s Office is to ensure that is not true. In my culture we live by the words, Mitakuye Oyasin, which means ‘all my relations’ or ‘we are all related.’ I carry that belief with me into this new role.”
Mary Beth Holzwarth began her new job as South Dakota’s Human Trafficking Coordinator alongside Morrisette on Nov. 28. For the past 13 years she has served as the CEO of Endeavor 52, a grassroots organization dedicated to child sexual assault prevention. “Joining the Attorney General’s Office in this new role gives me the opportunity to carry on my work combatting childhood sexual abuse and widen my focus to address other manifestations of exploitation including sexual and labor trafficking,” said Holzwarth.
