District 24 GOP House primary looking more and more inevitable. Candidates all over the place.

Pat Powers

District 24 Republicans running for the open GOP House seats seem to be multiplying.

Spoke this afternoon with Bob Lowery of Pierre who indicated he is going to be a Republican candidate for the District 24 House race.  Lowery, a former Assistant Executive Director for the SD High School Activities Association will be joining Will Mortenson and Mike Weisgram who are already in the race.

Dr. Noel Chicoine is also rumored to have an interest in the contest.  And we haven’t heard from current Senator Jeff Monroe – also termed out of office after this year – on what his plans are just yet.

Petitioning starts on January 1. And this could get a lot busier by the time petitions are due on March 31, 2020 for Primary Election candidates.

Stay tuned.

** And just a reminder: If you’re planning to run, drop me a note here, and I’ll add you to the list. Even if you don’t want it out there, drop me a line. Always happy to help. **

14 thoughts on “District 24 GOP House primary looking more and more inevitable. Candidates all over the place.”

  1. Dr. Chicoine and Senator Monroe were at the last Hughes County GOP lunch, and both spoke to the group as candidates. Sen. Monroe pretty much said he was running and Dr. Chicoine also stated he was “very interested” in running.

  2. I’ll be curious who creates nice literature and who gets signs made up. Who goes door to door.

  3. I’ve heard Weisgram and Monroe are the early favorites but also that Weisgram and Mortenson might team up.

  4. Jeff Monroe and his jumping between chambers demonstrates a lack of respect for the electorate’s wishes to limit how long individuals may serve in the Legislature. He and Tim Rounds made an art of it, yet their district allowed it while not expecting much from them in return.

    2. “Lack of respect for the electorate wishes” Which electorate? The one that existed in 1992 that voted in term limits? Seems very appropriate to let the electorate that exists now decide that for themselves at the voting booth.

    3. I don’t think the voters of district 24 feel disrespected. If they did, the election result would be different. One could conclude that they are giving the district what it wants from it’s representatives.

          1. At this point, I suspect it’s going to be a pretty fluid situation for the next month as people jockey for position, and decide if they’re actually running or not.

            I’m ticking off 1, maybe 2 GOP primaries across the state in the Senate, and as many as 8 or more in the House.

            But, talking about running is easy. We’ll see how many actually put their name on the line when January 1 rolls around.

  7. Comments:

    1) I chuckle at the “lack of respect of the electorate’s wishes” when the House switchers candidates nearly always are overwhelmingly re-elected by the people. The whole “respect for term-limits” seems to be in concept only. In practice and reality, the voters know it is a canard.

    2) While I don’t know Monroe, choosing between Mortenson, Weisgram, and Chicoine would be extremely hard for me. All would be fantastic contributors to the Legislature. All three of them I’d trust with a key to my house.

    3) The Districts that include Pierre and Gettysburg (my hometowns) have both been solidly represented for over 40 years without a dud among them. I wish my current and former districts in Sioux Falls could go more than 2 years with at least 2 of the 3 being brighter than “mentally challenged.”

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