Author: @SoDakCampaigns

Congressman Dusty Johnson’s Weekly Column: How is your family doing?

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How is your family doing?
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
December 31, 2020

When I am traveling across South Dakota I get dozens of questions a day, from the budget deficit to healthcare to national defense to agriculture policy. Over the last two years I’ve regularly used this space to address many of the issues most often asked about.

There is a common question asked by South Dakotans I haven’t written about in a while, though: “How is your family doing?”

Some South Dakotans assume we moved to Washington, DC, after the election two years ago. We didn’t, and never really considered it. My wife has a successful business in Mitchell, but we also wanted our boys to grow up in South Dakota. There is a work ethic, kindness, and unassuming demeanor in our state that I didn’t want my sons to miss out on.

That means I am in South Dakota every weekend, which keeps me better connected to the people I’m serving. I see South Dakotans when I’m at the post office, the grocery store, and attending school events. We have one son in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school, so we have most bases covered!

Like most South Dakota families, we’ve been impacted by COVID-19, but we are holding up well, all things considered. We’ve lost close family friends to the pandemic. We’ve had travel plans disrupted, had to consider the possibility of COVID impacts to my wife’s business, and had to be thoughtful about when we see family members. We also have a sense of gratitude, though, that we’ve been able to have the kids in school. Study after study is showing that students are learning more when they are in the classroom and we are blessed to have Mitchell teachers and administrators working so hard to keep the kids safe and in the classroom.

COVID has meant a lot more time together as a family. Our family likes hiking and biking, and we’ve done more of that in 2020 than ever. Twelve-year-old Ben particularly likes the outdoors. He shot his first pheasant earlier this season, and he is regularly pushing me to take him to walk a field or to shoot trap. He has a 28-gauge and he’s become quite a shot. I’m still the only one in the family that will clean a bird, though.

Fifteen-year old Max is a hard worker and a talented musician. Marching band and show choir have demanded a lot of time from him, but he still makes time to work a good number of hours at the World’s Only Corn Palace as a tour guide and cashier. Both Max and Ben are good brothers to eight-year-old Owen. Owen is energetic and funny, and enjoys building things and exploring the neighborhood on foot, scooter, and bike. His ping pong skills are fast approaching mine, but that’s probably not much to brag about.

It isn’t easy to have a father and husband gone half the time, of course. Jacquelyn and our sons have to pick up a lot of my slack when I’m away. I’m grateful they are good people who love this country and who understand the value of what I’m trying to accomplish in Washington. They realize that it isn’t just our family that matters; it’s the thousands of families across South Dakota who want a fair, reasonable, and freedom-protecting federal government.  Thank you for the opportunity for our family to serve.

Rounds Takes Oath of Office for Second Term in U.S. Senate

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Rounds Takes Oath of Office for Second Term in U.S. Senate

WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) made the following statement after taking the oath of office for his second term serving South Dakotans in the United States Senate:

“Continuing to work on behalf of South Dakotans in the United States Senate is a tremendous privilege and honor. I’m also incredibly thankful Jean was able to join me for the ceremony.”

“I look forward to getting to work on the important issues that will define our future.”

Rounds was sworn into office by Vice President Mike Pence and escorted by U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.). Video of Rounds taking the oath is available HERE.

The reenactment photo, below, was taken in the Old Senate Chamber of the U.S. Capitol following his official swearing in. This is Jean’s first trip to Washington, D.C., since she first started cancer treatment in June 2019.

 

Now outgoing House Speaker Haugaard seems to be doubling down on presidential fraud accusations, attending rally with “Proud Boys” members speaking.

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After yesterday’s solicitation for names to include with a letter to the states federal delegation alleging election fraud in the presidential election, outgoing Speaker of the House Steve Haugaard was in attendance at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Sioux Falls… which you can read about yourself:

Two speakers self-identified with the “Proud Boys,” a far right-wing group with a history of violent confrontations, and were acting as guards for the stage.

Current legislator and former Speaker of the South Dakota House of Representatives Steve Haugaard was in attendance but declined to comment. He did say he would be sending out letter voicing frustrations with the election.

Read it at the Argus Leader.

Outgoing Speaker of the House trying to make last act to gin up letter to state congressional delegation about alleged voter fraud in other states

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Happy New Year… and apparently happy conspiracy day from outgoing Speaker of the House Steve Haugaard, as he sends out an e-mail early this evening to Republican State Legislators asking them to join him on a letter he intends to send out to to our state’s Congressional delegation tomorrow:

On Jan 1, 2021, at 5:59 PM, Steven Haugaard <Steven.Haugaard@sdlegislature.gov> wrote:

Dear Legislators,

I am writing to invite legislative members to join in the attached request being forwarded to our Congressional Delegation. Congress will act upon the report of the vote on January 6. Evidence of fraud needs to be evaluated. Please respond to this email OR text me to let me know if you want your name included on the attached letter.

I know this is short notice as I expect to send this later tomorrow, but I will update the list of names as I receive additional responses.

Thanks, and Happy New Year!

Steve

Steven Haugaard
Speaker of the House
South Dakota House of Representatives

From the response Haugaard received from the incoming Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, I get the distinct impression that Haugaard’s plea to use his office to contest elections in other states is not entirely appreciated:

On Jan 1, 2021, at 7:27 PM, Lee Schoenbeck wrote:
This RHINO behavior should stop. Please at least pretend to be a real Republican.
The next legislative session might just be one of the more interesting ones.

Top Ten South Dakota Political Stories of 2020 – part 1 (counting down from #10-6)

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Normally I would have worked on a post such as this a week ago, but to be honest after an incredibly busy 2020, I was enjoying my time off from work before diving back into it with what I anticipate will be an already busy 2021.

I thought it would be a useful exercise to go back, and tick off what I think are the most important South Dakota specific political stories of 2020, with a few notes why. So without any further fanfare, here are the Top Ten South Dakota Political Stories of 2020

Top SD Political Stories in 2020

10. Record number of women elected to SD State Legislature.

As Governor Kristi Noem shattered the glass ceiling in state politics, while maybe not a primary motivator for the women who ran for the South Dakota State Legislature, I can’t help but believe it at least affected attitudes in some way among Republican women, who captured a massive percentage of the seats won by women in the South Dakota legislature.

Over 30 years of being involved, I can honestly say that it seems that we’ve largely moved past the days when people would vocalize that “women should be home with the kids instead of serving in Pierre” to an attitude that “it’s ok for dad to help hold down the fort while mom heads to Pierre for a few weeks.” And that’s ok.

9. House members bring accusations against Senators.

The relationship between State House and State Senate members hit a new low when early in 2020, members of House Leadership including the Speaker of the House Steve Haugaard and the House Majority Leader Lee Qualm brought accusations against the Senate President Pro Tempore Brock Greenfield and Senate Majority Leader Kris Langer claiming they participated in the last day of session while inebriated.

Neither of the House Members actually witnessed the behavior giving rise to the accusations, but they were glad to make hearsay accusations that after headlines and accompanying folderol, ultimately ended with an “admonishment.” Or as the committee said, “the committee didn’t find that Langer and Greenfield violated the rules banning the storage or consumption of alcohol in the Legislature’s areas of the Capitol and disorderly conduct.” Yet even though it ended in a “meh,” the damage was done via publicity.

Langer withdrew from election, and while running unopposed, Greenfield did not win another term as President Pro Tempore among his colleagues. Yet the accusers didn’t go unscathed either.

In trying to move to the Senate, Lee Qualm, with few allies found himself historically decimated in the Senate primary by newcomer Erin Tobin. And Haugaard was utterly ousted from House leadership, with the incident being the culmination of a very rocky leadership term for both House members.

8. Dems fail to run Congressional Candidate to their own doom.

“Hey, do you remember that time when Democrats didn’t run a congressional candidate?” Well, that was 2020, and it didn’t do South Dakota Democrats any good. After having two relatively decent candidates (for Democrats) the State Democrat organization faltered so badly that they could not assist either candidate with successfully completing signatures, leaving Dusty Johnson a wide open field.

Sure, Johnson had a Libertarian on the ballot to face, but it wasn’t a challenge that required any degree of effort. So what did Dusty change with his campaign team, ready for action after being honed in a primary election. He didn’t change anything. And that meant trouble for Democrats.

Not in his race mind you, but he kept his team out campaigning and encouraged them to be a rising tide that lifted all Republican boats.

7. Liz May fizzles for Congress.

In 2020, former State Representative Liz May launched a campaign from the right against Congressman Dusty Johnson. At least.. her Texas based consultant did. Because from the time May announced most of the effort came across on facebook while May largely stayed at home claiming COVID.

Liz managed to be ensconced in her home area until Mid-may, but by that time her anonymity with the at-large electorate of South Dakota was guaranteed.

Sure, Liz had her supporters, such as State Representative Tom Pischke who claimed she was the “True Republican” in the race.

But the claim somewhat fell flat, as Liz May found herself crushed 77-23 in the primary.

 

6. SD GOP Sweeps Legislature.

There was no other way to say it on the night of the election other than “Republicans seem to be setting the stage for amazing and unprecedented wins.”

And when the dust settled a couple days later (thanks to the Minnehaha County Auditor’s inability to complete a count that night), there was no doubt. The South Dakota GOP set a new modern benchmark for the number of Republicans in the South Dakota Legislature.

What set the stage for it? For starters, Democrats conceded a great number of seats before the races even began.  Individual GOP candidates gave exceptionally strong performances in many campaigns. And there was more.

As they have done for a couple of elections under Chairman Dan Lederman, the State GOP provided support for legislative candidates in the form of slate mail and other support.  In many cases, it was like a submarine attack where they listened where things needed help, and brought in more subtle support bolstering name ID.

From the results, it certainly worked as election night came and went leaving Democrat ranks decimated even further with only 3 Senators and 8 State Representatives.

And with re-districting coming up… that’s kind of a bad time for Democrat’s election efforts to have collapsed on them.

 

Stay tuned for part 2..

Are we back doing this again? Trump tweets against Thune again, despite @kristinoem saying @johnthune is friend and not going to do it.

@SoDakCampaigns

From Twitter this morning:

Didn’t we do this once already? With Kristi Noem taking a solid pass:

It’s kind of dumb at this point, especially since the names being thrown about among the Thune haters are names such as Bruce Whalen, Neal Tapio, Liz May, and even non-Republicans such as Shad Olson. At this rate, pretty soon we’ll see Lora Hubbel. None of whom could make a dent.

The biggest problem with the attacks from the President is that after more than a decade of work by many Republicans – with huge help from and kudos to the Thune campaign organization – the State GOP is at a historic high point with the entire Federal delegation and all state offices, etcetera in Republican hands.

We’ll see what the coming months bring us. Hopefully we can lay off the attacks, ignore twitter, and work to move the state forward with Kristi Noem as Governor, and return John Thune to the US Senate and Dusty Johnson to Congress.