Just caught this interesting tidbit in a story at SD Standard, that Democrat Linda Duba plans on running for the Senate in 2024:
“Republicans are very good on messaging,” she said. “They understand that you win things on the local level.”
Duba plans to run for the state Senate in 2024, hoping to fill the seat that Nesiba will vacate because of term limits. She said she relies on door-to-door campaigning to earn voter support, even among Republicans in her district.
With it now being a Republican District, D15 should be able to move into the GOP aisle as a pickup, given the right candidate. Duba isn’t going to roll over, so it will take a competent candidate doing the right things.
The question is whether the Minnehaha GOP can recruit a competent candidate, given their own state of affairs?
This is the same district young Lindwurm is campaigning.
District 15 will stay blue largely thanks to the ineptitude of the Minnehaha GOP.
Considering the idiocy of the individuals they’d put on the ballot and the already guaranteed overwhelming GOP majority, that’s probably for the best.
In the District numbered 15, young Ms. Duba will be a menace in the senate with all her marijuana law bills.
One of the biggest problems with the Minnehaha GOP is that they don’t care about electability. They will use their resources to help fringe candidates make it through the primary — if they can just get through the primary, they’ll be guaranteed to win the general, right? I think, though, that they’ll be surprised by how many Republican voters will vote for an Independent or a moderate Democrat over a fringe Republican.
With Sean Tornow “leading” the Party, our best candidates are actually harmed by their affiliation with the Republican Party — how can a good candidate reasonably explain to voters why he or she is affiliated with Tornow and his ilk? If this continues for long, don’t be surprised to see moderate Republicans suddenly switch and run as Independents or Democrats. Why mess with the primary when they can so easily beat fringe Republicans in the general?
If that happens, it will be the end of the Republican Party’s dominance in South Dakota politics.
There’s talk of at least one strong Republican stepping forward to challenge for this senate seat. With the redistricting, this is a winnable seat for the GOP. Since it’s an open seat and Duba has a very liberal record, we should be able to pick this seat up.