GOP Presidential Nomination process has begun. South Dakota should go back to early Presidential Primary and candidate slates as part of the process.

The Republican presidential nomination process has officially begun! It began in Milwaukee with the first debate, and will end in Milwaukee with the Convention! pic.twitter.com/Mpu5soLAd3

— GOP (@GOP) August 27, 2023

The GOP was citing on Twitter earlier today that the Republican Presidential Nomination process is underway, which will ultimately culminate in the 2024 convention held to be held in Milwaukee Wisconsin, on July 15-18, 2024.

With the convention taking place in the Midwest, it’s likely to draw considerable interest from South Dakotans eager to attend, including myself.  But as someone who has attended two conventions, and was selected to go for a third, I’m wondering if there need to be some changes made in the process.

My last GOP National convention I’d been able to go to was supposed to be the 2020 Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina. Then it became Jacosonville, Fl. Which ended up even stranger as COVID canceled the main run of the convention that ended up being a bit of a sh*tshow for attendees. Attendees who had paid convention fees and made reservations found themselves canceled, and left with little else but a request for their proxies and a later note thanking them.

They did send states some COVID masks they made for convention, which the South Dakota GOP later distributed at the election night party in Sioux Falls in 2020, as you can see here.  They’re actually pretty nice, and the logo was weaved into the fabric. But, not really a substitute for attending the convention. However, facing COVID, it was not an ideal situation for anyone, so you make due.

With the first GOP Presidential Debate behind us, if I have any observation about the process how we as a party select our nominees, it is that changes in recent years puts South Dakota Republicans who want to participate at a distinct disadvantage, and we need to consider turning back the clock when it comes to how we select our delegates.

Suggestion Box item #1 – Think about an earlier Presidential Primary Date. 

Unfortunately, South Dakota is kneecapped in the Presidential Primary process because of the late date of our Presidential Primary.

With our voice in the Presidential Process coming in the first Tuesday in June, we are very, very late in the game. And even moreso with the conventions moving from September to next years’ convention taking place in mid-July, how on earth can you plan attending the darned thing?

If South Dakota wants to have a stronger voice in who we select as President, the only way to do so is to move our presidential primaries back to where we had them from 1988-1996.

When we first had the early primary in 1988, I can tell you that South Dakota actually received a bit of attention. As a Legislative Intern at the time, I can personally relate that we had a number of speakers in Pierre – including Bob Dole (I got to shake his hand), and Vice-President George Bush, who our Intern group got to eat lunch with.  Phil Gramm who later won the state that year, was in South Dakota several times, and also spoke to the Legislature.

I believe that an earlier primary makes South Dakota a greater part of the national conversation.  And that’s not a bad thing.

But there’s another item in the Presidential Primary conversation that should be looked at – how we choose the people who choose the nominee.

Suggestion Box item #2 – We need to go back to electing candidate slates. 

As a result of changes made by the state for accommodating the national convention, over the last 2 convention cycles, South Dakota Republicans have been forced to be homogenous in our thought.  What am I referring to?  If you look at the SDGOP’s bylaws, they note as follows:

SECTION VI
SELECTION OF NATIONAL CONVENTION DELEGATES

1. All delegates and alternates to which South Dakota may be entitled under the National Convention membership formula shall be elected at large. All elected delegates and alternates shall be bound to support the winner of the primary election as provided in this section.

You can read that here.

The key point in that passage are that “All delegates and alternates….shall be elected at large.”  And that has been the case for the last two Presidential elections, where delegates are not selected in the primary by their actual candidates’ slate winning the election, but by another process. It was different in 2016, but as it sits currently, if you want to go to convention, you’re selected as follows:

Applications will include information detailing the applicant’s activities and contributions to the party, including, but not limited to, time commitments and financial donations to national, state and county Republican parties, and to official Republican national, state, county and local candidates. Applications may include a checklist and/or a written summary of the applicant’s activities in support of the Republican Party. Applications may include a statement regarding the applicant’s interest, qualifications, and ability to serve on one or more of the national convention committees.

Again, read that here.

In years gone by, South Dakota Republicans would caucus in Pierre, and after caucusing at a county party gathering, where supporters of each candidate would organize themselves, the winners from the counties would meet in Pierre, and from there you would see considerable horse trading based on your county’s weighted vote.  I went through this process and horse trading several times under the tutelage of Gordon Pederson and Lee Schoenbeck, both of whom have attended a number of national conventions.

The distinct difference under the prior system, even after the primary was pushed back to the regular June primary, was that you as a convention delegate/alternate were able to run to support the candidate of your choosing, as opposed to being lumped together in the “at large” category, where you have no affiliation or specific allegiance.  Under the current system, there is no incentive, advantage or disadvantage to promote one candidate over the other. You’re literally just a blank vote.

Now, I’m not saying that a person’s activity with the party (under the current system) isn’t important. To the contrary. But I think that’s reflected in how successful you are in the process, and how well you’re known at the time of the caucusing.

But getting back to the larger point, it’s no shock thar South Dakotans in the political process have definite opinions on the candidates they prefer. Why not let potential delegates – as they did for decades – line up behind their candidates of choice?

Because people representing our state should be more than jut a vote. They should be allowed to be the face of their candidate.

***

At least, those are my thoughts on how we can improve the presidential primary and the associated GOP National Convention delegate process. Any other suggestions?