It appears that State Dems intend to try to run a stronger candidate in District 15 Senate than Linda Duba, as Jamie Smith announces he’s going to run after losing to Governor Noem:
The 52-year-old teacher-turned-realtor has stayed active within the South Dakota Democratic Party since falling short in his challenge against the governor during the last election cycle when Noem cruised to reelection. His decision to run for the Legislature again comes amid much uncertainty for District 15, a Democratic stranglehold in the last decade.
Read that in the Dakota Scout.
District 15 used to be a Democrat District.. but since redistricting, it is not. Now, it just depends on who steps forward on the side of the GOP to run.
At the very least, the opposition research is already done for the fall.
mmm demographic change with redistricting. does d15 have a snakelike shape linking carved out shift targets together unnaturally now? i hope not, there isn’t a prettier construct than d33 right now and we’re not giving up the stunning artistic execution trophy to anyone.
Cory Heidelberger wrote on his blog that he could not come up with a map more favorable to Democrats than the one the legislature adopted.
Remember Representative Jamie Smith in 2020 voted in favor of these maps. I don’t want to hear anybody from SDDP complaining about it being gerrymandered when they also approved these maps.
i’ll let a democrat know if i find one.
Here’s there press release after the map was voted on by the Legislature in November 2021.
https://sddp.org/sddp-statement-new-legislative-map/
The fact that they choose not to field candidates for various districts is why the Open Primary measure might be voted on by the people in 2024.
thanks for the link. i’m glad to know the forces at work that kicked me out of D32 into the moat.
Sorry for your infliction of Fox News Brain.
Sorry for your infliction of thinking that you have to be brainwashed by the media in order to think killing babies isn’t ok.
I happen to think the opposite.
Sorry you need someone to interpret a novel from thousands of years ago in order to define life. The rest of us, and most laws already established, use science and logic, not their favorite fantasy novel, to establish legal standing. At least religion is moving towards the majority as they continue to lose members (the Pope just accepted gay marriage yesterday?), so maybe they’ll change their stance on life too. This is why you base the definition of life, and other critical things, on something that isn’t open to interpretation.
so says a floater.
Maybe, just maybe, the Democrats have become more strategic in the way they approach districts and winning elections. Replacing Linda Duba with Jamie Smith is a smart move. He’s more respected and infinitely more likeable than Rep. Duba.
L O L
Not sure if you’ve ever met Duba, but she is liked by all in Pierre regardless of party affiliation.
Not really.
LMAO
give it time.
I believe the Dems will hold all six seats in 15 and 10 for ’24, but ’26 will be different, especially if Biden is re-elected. I expect in ’26, the GOP will take one, and maybe two of the seats in 15. Because Democratic numbers always fall off in non presidential years and 15 especially is a very competitive district now with a GOP advantage.
As mentioned above, 15 is no longer a Democratic stronghold with the Republicans now having a plurality of the registered voters there. But what is really interesting is that Dave’s Redistricting website, which I was told by a Republican legislator was the one everyone on the Redistricting Committee was using (and not the LRC suggested maps) at the time, had the Democrats in the plurality in 15 at the time of redistricting, but soon after it was changed by Dave’s to showing a Republican plurality.
Also, little has ever been mentioned by how the current map was enacted with the help of Rep. Deutsch, who was initially a potential victim of gerrymandering in the Codington County area, but when he regained his rural district through political bargaining, then the moderate Republicans and the 11 Democrats were then able to narrowly pass their redistricting map. Or, to put it better, the Democrats saved a legislator who is known to be anti-transgender, while the Democrats always try to be the champions of transgenders. No pun intended, but the redistricting results in ’21 were a classic example of strange bedfellows, indeed.