Author: @SoDakCampaigns

As they cry over how they are being referred to, the South Dakota Democrat party has managed to put together a field of candidates for office this fall that are so unmemorable, that the media can’t even keep them straight. As evidenced by how they are reported on.

In one article, Joe Sneve from the Argus points out who the candidates for State Auditor and treasurer are…

The Democrats nominee for State Treasurer is John Cunningham, a retired public administrator from Sioux Falls, while Stephany Marty, a military veteran also from Sioux Falls, was tapped as the party’s candidate for state Auditor.

Read that here.

And we get an alternative line-up from Bob Mercer over at KELOland:

I believe the actual line-up is Stephanie Marty for Auditor and John Cunningham for Treasurer. But, as we’re noting from Bob’s recitation, it really doesn’t matter.

On another topic, in the Democrat platform this year is a plank that isn’t getting enough attention in the press.

Among seniors planks, South Dakota Democrats call for supporting end-of-life decisions, including a person’s right to die. @keloland

— KELO Bob Mercer (@pierremercer) July 9, 2022

If you look at the age of their Constitutional candidates, Tom Cool is 72. John Cunningham is 75, Stephanie Lynn Marty & Jeff Barth are both 70.  School and Lands Candidate Tim Azure is 68, for an average age of 71.

Of course they’re addressing end-of-life decisions in their platform.

I just added 2 long-time wants with one of them being a “Holy grail” addition to my South Dakota button collection today.

First is one of the most challenging pins to find for any South Dakota button collectors, the Joe Foss Ace High Republican pin for the 1956 San Francisco Republican National Convention, where Governor Joe Foss was being touted as a possible vice-presidential contender.  Haven’t heard about Foss being a VP contender? An effort was definitely mounted, but by the time when the nominations were made..

 

.. it seems to have gone away, and the vice-presidential nomination went to Richard Nixon instead.

This is an exceedingly rare South Dakota political pin and near impossible to find, so this nearly mint condition example that I’ve been trying to acquire for years is a welcome find.

The second pin is almost as tough, so when the offer for both of the pins came to me, I couldn’t turn it down either.  The 1937 Les Jensen Inaugural pin is only the third inaugural pin issued, so this 85 year old pin is expensive, and not easy to find.  Very happy to add it to my wall.  This only leaves me the very challenging first inaugural pin to find, the 1933 inaugural pin.  (Also looking for the 1947 Mickelson and 1953 Sig Anderson pins which I have around here somewhere).

They say that political memorabilia collectors are history’s dumpster divers. Great day for searching through our state’s rubbish today!

South Dakota Democrats are keeping up their streak of awful candidates as they place Sioux Falls Democrat Tom Cool on the sacrificial altar for Secretary of State. And in his first quote for the office, Tom has already gotten a gaffe into the papers:

Sioux Falls Democrat Tom Cool, a former journalist who ran for state auditor in 2018, will carry the party’s platform to the November ballot in the race for Secretary of State. He’ll go up against Monae Johnson, the GOP candidate who knocked off incumbent Steve Barnett on a campaign that honed in on Republican disatisfaction of the 2020 presidential election.

“They keep whining about election integrity, which we know are their code words for voter suppression,” Cool said when accepting the nomination. “They don’t just want to go along with the Supreme Court and go back to the 1950s, they want to return to the 1850s when it was only white men controlling this country.”

Read it here.

“They want to return to the 1850s when it was only white men controlling this country.” 

Um.. Did Tom bother to check the mirror before he made that statement? If old white man Tom Cool is concerned about white men running the country, then why is he challenging a woman for the office?  That’s the same kind of self-awareness that’s cost him an incredible 6 races for office over the last the last decade.

Stick a fork in that race. He’s done.

Argus Headline today: South Dakota Democrats see open AG, secretary of state contests as paths to statewide office.

Don’t they have to have candidates first?

They named someone who might be one of the poorest choices they’ve ever made for lieutenant governor In terms of shoring up where the gubernatorial candidate could use some help.

And so far there is only one candidate for anything else, with outgoing Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth running for Public Utilities Commission, against incumbent Chris Nelson.

They’ve got a long way to go to fill that ticket, and not much for bankable candidates.

According to South Dakota Right to Life, for the 2012-2022 session, Dem Lt Governor pick Jennifer Keintz is tied with several other House Dems for last place in how she voted on life issues during her 2 years of office.

At 33%, she joins Representatives Duba and Bordeaux in opposing bills supported by South Dakota Right to Life, according to the group’s Spring newsletter.

From the Argus, Dem for Gov Jamie Smith has made his Lt. Gov pick: State Rep Jennifer Keintz:

The Sioux Falls Democrat challenging Gov. Kristi Noem in this year’s gubernatorial election Thursday formally announced that he’s backing Rep. Jennifer Keintz, 48, a real estate broker and business owner from Eden, for the Democratic Party’s lieutenant governor candidate on the November ballot.

Read that here.

Interesting that real estate agent Jamie Smith has decided to diversify his ticket with real estate agent Jennifer Keintz.

Really?

I don’t even need to work that hard to poke holes in this elitist ticket, as I had already pointed it out less than 2 years ago :

To the Editor:

I earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from South Dakota State University in the 1990s. Immediately after graduating I moved to the East Coast, where many people I met couldn’t find South Dakota on a map and had certainly never heard of the university. I was able to find jobs with good companies in various large cities and to build a decent career. After a few years in the work force, it seemed to matter more where I had worked than where I went to college.

I was probably not called in to interview by some companies because I hadn’t attended a prestigious university, but there are plenty of great employers who look at more than alma mater. All that said, I’ve seen how attending certain schools opens many doors. It’s not a guarantee of success, but there’s no denying that graduates of top schools have a leg up.

I have a 2-year-old and I already think about where she’ll go to college. It will ultimately be her choice, but I will strongly suggest elite institutions. Despite my own positive experience and my desire for it to not matter, it absolutely does.

Jennifer Healy Keintz
Eden, S.D.

Read that here.

Good luck with that pick. Democrats are going to need it.

Here’s the most controversial political commercial in the country at the moment, in case you wanted to catch it before it involuntarily leaves Twitter..

Make Rifles Great Again 💪🏿

👉https://t.co/J7lHnodhku#JeroneForCongress#2A #SelfDefense pic.twitter.com/Gs6iAHVVAP

— Jerone Davison for Congress #AZCD4 (@Jerone4Congress) July 6, 2022

It’s a slow week, so who the Democrats are (or are not running) for constitutional office is a huge topic of discussion. And I’m amazed that even with the Democrat State Convention starting on July 8th, there is still no word of them running any candidates for office.

And really, who do they have among them who is seeking a higher profile of running for a constitutional office? Who are they going to run?  It’s not like the top of the ticket races where they say year after year “maybe we can get Billie, or Stephanie, or Brendan,” even though none of their dream team wants to move forward with a major race, much less a down-ticket affair.  With an almost unprecedented void of Democrat Candidates this election, I have this suspicion that Randy Seiler has earned a new honorary recognition among Democrats this week – “Randy Seiler: most likely to have his calls sent to voicemail” as he tries to scare up interest.

What’s the lay of the land for Democrats in the constitutional offices?

Jamie Smith’s call might be the second least-desired call as he seeks a Lt. Governor candidate.  This one is taking a while, so we’ll see what he comes up with to try to balance the ticket.

There’s likely no Democrat attorney who wants to get out and run for AG, because they know that’s an automatic loss against Marty Jackley who has it buttoned up among Sheriffs and States Attorneys.

Secretary of State might have an outside chance of some national money behind it, but even with token take-one-for-the-team money, that’s a pretty big gamble for a candidate. With Monae Johnson able to claim experience with the SOS office, they can’t just put up a warm body as they have in the past. They have to have someone with a “hook” into capturing people’s imagination as to why they should be in that office.

Auditor & Treasurer will be tough for Dems, because they have to find someone who can self-fund for these offices with no constituencies.  School and Lands might be able to draw someone, because of Brock Greenfield’s controversies a year or so back, but once you get past one press release, the candidate will have to have their act together, because that issue isn’t in the limelight anymore, alongside the fact they’ll be taking on a very experienced campaigner in Greenfield. Plus, Brock is fully backed by the GOP, whereas Democrats’ resources are far less.

There’s a rumor or two about the Public Utilities Commission race drawing an anti-pipeline candidate, but again, that’s a double edged sword as they’ll be setting themselves up to be anti-development in a race where the pro-development people have money, and the protesters don’t. And they’ll be running against a known and experienced Chris Nelson fully backed by the Republican party in a Republican state.

Not a lot of good options for Democrat candidates at this point.

So, who do you think they’ll run? And be realistic.

For Immediate Release – July 6, 2022

Monae Johnson thanks Secretary Barnett

(Rapid City, SD)— Monae Johnson thanked Secretary Barnett, “I want to take this opportunity to thank Steve Barnett for his years of service to the State of South Dakota, first as State Auditor for eight years, and then as Secretary of State for four years. Though we had policy differences, I know our love and commitment to South Dakota is equally shared. Steve and his family have been gracious, and I wish them the best on their future endeavors.”

As the Republican intra-party squabbling seemed to hit a crescendo a couple weeks ago in Watertown before it started dying down, I couldn’t help but notice that we aren’t hearing much from South Dakota Democrats.  Which is particularly interesting, as they have a convention in 3 days…. but there’s a distinct lack of noise about anyone running for anything.

They’ve got Brian Bengs to lose for US Senate in November.  And Jamie Smith, who we’re told is running for Governor, has yet to make a selection for a running mate. Lt. Governor is one of the things that the Democrat Party Convention is allegedly going to pick in three days hence, but we’ve heard nothing but crickets to this point.

Attorney General.. there was once early word that Randy Seiler might give it another run, if Jason Ravnsborg was the nominee. That did not happen, so guessing they need to find a Democrat Attorney who is willing to take one for the team.  Otherwise, Secretary of State, nothing. State Auditor, nothing, State Treasurer, nothing. School and Lands and Public Utilities Commission, nothing and nothing.

Literally, with three days to do, the prospects of statewide Democrat candidates willingly announcing that they’re running is looking pretty bleak.

Unless a person wants to be running on the Democrat ticket as a nominee, they might want to stay out of the bars in Pierre/Ft. Pierre this weekend.