Coming in slightly under 500 votes away from her nearest competitor, Cynthia Mickelson of Sioux Falls took an early lead in the Sioux Falls School Board race and never looked back; continually increasing her lead as the votes were counted over the course of the evening.
Mickelson, whose husband Mark is the Republican Speaker of the State House of Representatives, seemed to hold the attention of popular opinion in the Sioux Falls community, as well as letter writers to the local newspapers during the entirety of the campaign.
The victory may seem even more sweeter, considering her liberal detractors would quite offensively poke at her on the basis of her gender, at the same time they supported her opponent, Randy Dobberpuhl.
In the end, her victory was all but guaranteed as Cynthia ran a superior campaign in fundraising, door to door, and voter contact, peaking on election day. It was a textbook win. And a good lesson that it pays to stick to the basics.
Congratulations to Cynthia, and best of luck to her in her new job as Sioux Falls’ newest School Board member.
Mark and Cynthia Mickelson both run textbook campaigns. They should really write a book. It’s too bad Mark didn’t run for governor, if for no other reason than it would have been interesting to see the Mickelson’s apply their campaign prowess in a statewide race.
I’m just guessing but there is probably 10,000 parents of students currently in the Sioux Falls School Board.
Total votes cast 4,300
Not a good sign when under 40% of the parents (more likely under 25% because some of the voters don’t have kids in the school system) don’t care enough about the direction of the schools to even vote.
Next time a legislative candidate says they are going to run on education, sarcastically someone could ask “Have you thought on running on the Tom Petty platform? I think more people from Sioux Falls were in Minneapolis at the Petty concert than voted in the last school board election.”
That said, Sioux Falls public schools are lucky because they got a really good board member in Cynthia.
Come on Troy, you know better than that. Turnout was low because the voting centers were located mostly in “affluent” areas and the “Dark Money” monsters that hide under the bed.
Troy:
With more than 24,000 students (http://www.sf.k12.sd.us/schools), one would imagine the total number of parents, step-parents, guardians, local and involved grandparents, etc., would be more than 10,000. In addition, think of the more than 3,300 full- and part-time employees (http://www.sf.k12.sd.us/our-district/finance-office), many of whom presumably live within the district’s boundaries.
The statistic is old, but there was a time in the 1990s that only one in five Sioux Falls households had a child in the public school district. There are more than 5,000 students in K-12 private schools in Sioux Falls (https://www.privateschoolreview.com/south-dakota/sioux-falls) plus quite a few being homeschooled.
Another reason for voter apathy is the lack of controversy generally (school start date being the exception) and lack of substantive budget debate in particular (either taxation or spending) over the past several years. The building of a new (additional) high school is the next big issue on the horizon, with a lot depending on how it’s paid for.
It’s just uncomfortable to read the constant establishment but kissing on this blog.
It is so obvious sitting in your basement and cowardly posting anonymously to run down others that you have never met Cynthia. Besides being a good Christian mother, she is intellectually among the brightest people one could ever meet.
I thought the judge barred you from posting anonymously on-line?
No one is forcing you to read it.
Anonymous 7:47: First of all its butt, not but. Second, if this blog bothers you so much, why are you here? If you prefer poorly written blogs filled with hatred, might I suggest dakotafreepress.com ?
don’t forget encouraging drug use on that blog too
And killing of the elderly.