Generally, the headline for last night was that incumbents held fast in the Legislative races.

@SoDakCampaigns

If we can sense last night was about anything’s races, it was that voters were not in the mood to upset the applecart.

John Thune, Dusty Johnson, and Kristi Noem.. all re-elected with authority.

If you look at those who were already in their position, the losses were Kaleb Weis, Richard Thomason, Richard Vasgaard, and Caleb Finck in the House, with Mary Duvall in the Senate. Turning away challenges were Mike Rohl, Al Novstrup, Carl Perry, Fred Deutsch, Lee Schoenbeck, Casey Crabtree, John Mills, Bethany Soye, Chris Karr, Greg Jamison, Sue Peterson, Taylor Rehfeldt, Jim Bolin, Kevin Jensen, Lance Koth, Bryan Breitling, Mike Weisgram, Will Mortenson, Kirk Chaffee, (ugh) Julie Frye Mueller, Trish Ladner, Scott Odenbach, Mary Fitzgerald, Becky Drury, David Johnson, Phil Jensen, Mike Derby, Jess Olson, Tony Randolph, and Tina Mulally.

Literally in 30 of 35 races – 85% of those legislative contests, no one was looking for anything resembling change. When they were there, incumbents largely pulled through.

That’s a pretty strong trend.

13 thoughts on “Generally, the headline for last night was that incumbents held fast in the Legislative races.”

  1. And of the five incumbents who lost, three – Vasgaard, Weis, and Finck – were victims of redistricting. All three had to run in very different districts than where they were elected before.

  2. could we have an analysis based on who the “whackadoodles” are, and how many of them won or lost?

    1. I think a good headline would be the No vote on Amendment C more than doubling the Yes vote.

  3. could we have an analysis based on who the “whackadoodles” are, and how many of them won or lost?

  4. I heard the majority of Noem’s nominees she backed lost, that is telling.

    1. Given the barrage of postcards we all received, I don’t think anybody was reading them by the time Noem’s endorsements came out. It was all lost in piles of junk mail.

    2. Roetman’s group, the Ripple Effect, definitely had more losers than winners — including Roetman himself, who got humiliated in his own race for precinct committeeman.

  5. JFM’s PAC friends spent a ton of cash smearing Tim Goodwin. That said, District 30 voters have once again proved they, as well as District 35, will be sending some of the least effective legislators in history to Pierre. No need to lower your expectations, they’re already at the bottom of the barrel. What a waste of three seats and a sad day for western South Dakota.

    1. maybe most people in District 30 know you can’t get your vehicle repaired after a deer strike without a red tag??

      just about everybody knows this; who wants a legislator who doesn’t?

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