D3 Senate Candidate Heidelberger picks a fight with an unfriendly crowd. Should Candidates cause a near riot if they disagree with speakers?

Interesting story up in Aberdeen this AM, where the Ultra-liberal State Senate Candidate Cory Heidelberger decided to verbally spar with a speaker at an event where he was an uninvited member of the audience:

Things got heated at a lecture by Ron Branstner at the Best Western Ramkota Hotel in Aberdeen on Thursday when Corey Heidelberger defended a piece from his blog, Dakota Free Press, that Branstner critiqued in front of the group of about 200 assembled.

Heidelberger and Branstner began talking over each other, and members from the audience began shouting “get out” to Heidelberger, who is running for state Senate.

This happened during the question-and-answer portion at the end of Branstner’s lecture.

Branstner asked that things not get violent and the crowd quieted down.

Read it here.

Libertarian Ken Santema of the website SDliberty.com was in attendance, and has pictures, and promises upcoming video of the confrontations that the Democrat Senate Candidate had with the speaker and members of the crowd, who called for him to “Get out!”

Cory H from Dakota Free Press caused a ruckus at the event.

A photo posted by Ken Santema (@sodakliberty) on

Is it just me, or does inciting a near riot not seem like very candidate-like behavior? At the least, it comes off as very poor judgement.  People are allowed to have opinions, especially at events that they are hosting and paying for. And they might be contrary to the opinions held by politicians.

They’re actually allowed to say that they don’t think much of what he has to say. He certainly has the right to disagree, but what did it earn him by picking a fight over not liking what people think about what he writes? What did it do other than massage Cory’s ego, and nearly get him assaulted?

If his intent is to defend what he writes to a mass audience and pick a fight, I suppose he can do that. But, I was under the impression he is running for office.

What Heidelberger did was confrontation for the sake of confrontation. It didn’t help his candidacy, and if anything, reinforced some of the negative perceptions voters already have about him. It actually moved the ball backwards, and courtesy of the Aberdeen American News, it defined him as a bit thin skinned for people who knew nothing about him until now.

Some of the best advice you can give to a candidate is “Don’t do stupid things.” Going to the lair of someone who might be your enemy and picking a fight that makes the newspaper… I’d offer the opinion that it might just qualify as stupid.

UPDATE: Check out the Video from SoDakLiberty, where I’m starting it about 1 Hour, 55 minutes in…

Exactly as I’d mentioned, Cory wades into it, and picks a fight. And later, he comes back and starts shouting over the presenter.  Not very Senatorial at all.

Does this mean that if elected, he’s going to wade into other meetings of people he disagrees with, such as county commissions, or school boards, and attempt to shout over them? It comes off as a lot of the oppression you see in college kids trying to drown out by shouting conservative presenters on college campuses.

Except Cory isn’t a kid. He’s a candidate for office. And it isn’t acceptable for him, either.

19 thoughts on “D3 Senate Candidate Heidelberger picks a fight with an unfriendly crowd. Should Candidates cause a near riot if they disagree with speakers?”

  1. Mr. Powers,
    Are you asserting that one shouldn’t confront their enemies, face to face? One shouldn’t speak up when someone publicly misconstrues and blatantly lied about your statements? I don’t believe you always practice what you preach however you do remove most of my posts which you don’t agree with. But, this is a blog not a public forum. Right?

    1. I’m saying that it did not move the ball forward for him as a candidate, and earned him negative press.

      And Porter, as has been from the beginning, posts that are off-topic have a tendency to go away.

      In your case, I also reserve the right to step in and end the string of unnecessary insults you and anonymous commenters tend to bat back and forth, because it’s boring.

    1. Sorry, ma’am. Mr. Powers has requested I not respond in kind to personal taunts, threats and insults.

      1. Mr. Lansing, it’s amusing that you see yourself as a trouble maker, but guess what, the world doesn’t revolve around you. My question pertained to the picture.

        1. Yes. You didn’t make it clear. Me, a troublemaker? No. That’s why I considered it an insult. I’m not very comfortable talking about myself but I fight bullies and I go wherever that may lead.

            1. No one is trying to take your rights. We’re stopping you from taking others rights. Are you a bully if you try to take stop someone from being treated fairly and claim your rights are being infringed? Yes, you are MC.

              1. Well Mr. Lansing, I guess we are just going to have to disagree on how we define who is a bully.

                I would define a bully as one who attempts to force their will on to someone else.
                As opposed to a citizen who is defending their country against an invading force.

                We generally accept refugees who come here of their own free will, who are willing to assimilate into our culture, who are willing to work to become naturalized citizens. We will defend our nation against terrorists. We will defend this nation against those who want to force us to change to fit their idea of what they think we should be.

                1. By WE you must mean “We the Minority” because most Americans don’t think that way. You want to judge people by what you do well instead of judging people by what those people do well. Everyone does something well. Are you from German heritage, by any chance?

          1. I thought it was pretty clear, but then I don’t look at the world through Socialist glasses like some people.

        2. Porter isn’t very perceptive and, like any socialist, is very susceptible to being insulted and offended by pretty much anything, so you’ll have to forgive him, Anon.

          1. I’m highly perceptive. So much that I know anyone who shops at COSTCO is a socialist. Things and services are cheaper when purchased as a group and you must join a group to shop there.

    2. I think the troublemaker was the guy in the shorts who almost left them on his seat when he stood up.

      It’s very confusing: there was a video about how the UN makes us take refugees and all these NGOs are resettling them, and THAT is the problem, and then a woman said “I don’t think any of us are opposed to people coming here the right way,” and there was applause, and agreement from the speaker who had presented the video complaining about legal immigration. If he’s not opposed to legal immigration why did he present a video complaining about it?
      Then Corey doesn’t believe the problem of people using multiple IDs it’s happening, Corey. There was a woman at Morell’s who had enrolled in the health insurance under her working name but when she had a baby she checked into the hospital under a different name and then the insurance wouldn’t pay the medical bills. And then she was unable to produce a doctor’s note releasing her to return to work with the right name on it so she never could return to work.
      Everybody in HR had a good idea of who was illegal and they would report them to ICE which would tell us to “hire them so we can pick them up later.”

  2. I love a good fight… when I’m not in it!
    Corey, go home, just please go home.
    You’ve been TKO’d, again.

  3. Heidelberger is a socialist, and I cannot believe that any school district allows him to teach kids. I wouldn’t allow my kids to attend a school which has a teacher with such anti-American ideals.

    Corey, go overseas somewhere where your ideas have been tried, and after you can’t stand it, come back and then tell us how it is.

    1. I don’t agree with many of Corey’s or Pat’s views, but I find what they do as an important part in the Democratic process. To claim Corey to be anti-American is hyperbolic and incorrect. You Sir or Ma’am don’t decide who is American or who should move oversees.

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