Governor Noem taking active role in primaries, hard-right faction striking back and attacking Senate Leader

There’s an article posted at the Argus Leader this evening noting Governor Kristi Noem’s importance in the Republican primaries, and the fact she’s taking an active role in the primaries as the symbolic head of the Republican Party in South Dakota in encouraging people to run:

Not seen as vulnerable in her primary, Noem says she’s still not taking her party’s nomination for governor for granted. But she is managing to find time to involve herself in some battleground legislative contests. She’s offered candidate school seminars to up-and-coming politicians, making endorsements and even going as far as publicly chastising Republican incumbents she doesn’t see eye to eye politically.

and..

“In the primary, she’s probably the greatest asset we have,” said Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, the president pro tempore of the Legislature’s higher chamber who’s engaging in open hostilities with a handful of the governor’s political nemesis.

Read that here.

(Is that nemesis, or nemeses?). Of course, the Governor’s agenda does have it’s detractors – and by the looks of it, they’re putting some cash into attacking Senator Schoenbeck for leading the charge:

Pischke launched a campaign ad accusing him of being the “liberal leader of the Senate.” And last week, Rep. Liz May, a Republican who lives hundreds of miles from Watertown, began running a billboard spot in Schoenbeck’s district pegging him as a “tax and spend” politician for helping Noem block a sales tax cut last winter.

and..

“I’m going to do what it takes to expose him and this cabal of Republicans,” she said, though she declined to share the level of campaign funds she intends to focus on Schoenbeck’s race.

Read that here.

Interestingly, the Pischke ad campaign and the PAC billboard comes on the heels of Tom Pischke calling everyone and their dog to try to raise cash. I spoke with at least two people who had gotten calls. This might possibly be what he’s spending the campaign bucks on that he’s trying to raise.

Given Liz May’s electoral skill (such as when she lost to Dusty Johnson 81-19%).. or lack thereof, throwing cash against Lee Schoenbeck might be the second biggest waste of her money after her Congressional race. Given that Schoenbeck is the legislature’s OG campaign machine, and is completely and utterly indefatigable when it comes to political races, Liz has a pretty uphill battle if she thinks she’s going to take him down a peg.

But, it is endlessly entertaining political theater.   Stay tuned.