If you’re interested in what the balance of power in the SD Legislature is, Tony Venhuizen has a great analysis of how it has looked over the course of history on his website SoDak Governors:
The past ten years have seen Republican control of the State Legislature reach heights unseen since the 1950s. It was just over ten years ago, in 2009-10, that the Senate had 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats, and the House had 45 Republicans and 25 Democrats. The 2010 election saw Republican numbers jump, to 30-5 in the Senate (a gain of 9 seats) and 51-19 in the House (a gain of 6 seats, counting one Republican-leaning independent). Over the past ten years, Republicans on average have held 84.8/105 legislative seats, or 80.8%.
Good read. Two things Tony didn’t mention specifically:
1). The seismic shift to the GOP coincides with the shift of the populace from the Dems to the Independents (GOP registration has stayed in the 45-47% range since the 80’s). As the SDDP became to look like the national party, roughly 1/3 of the Dem registration shifted to Independent. And, in the end about half those former Democrats/new Independents began to regularly vote for the GOP legislative candidates.
2). Governor Daugaard was the Governor when the ascendency of the GOP occurred. Despite being socially conservative, the most fiscally conservative and least governmentally interventionist Governor in my lifetime, Governor Dauguard was quite “moderate” in his tone and style which may have made him more popular with the middle than the most conservative who desire “red meat” and focus on the most hot-button/divisive issues.
I think there is a lesson here regarding leading the body politic and fundamentally re-organizing the voting propensity of the population: Lead with good government (do only what government does well) and good governance (do it efficiently) and speak frankly with the people (said this way, there is more in common than between Daugaard and Trump than their rhetoric would indicate) without talking down to them.
Let me give just two examples of when the Governor and President reminded me of each other:
1). During the floods, the Governor was seen walking the dikes or whatever and then spoke calmly and factually about what was coming. (On a side note, if Trump had pursued most of the same policies but approached it more Daugaard-like, it would be a landslide today).
2). In the face of almost virtually unanimous opposition to his approach in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, his policies toward Iran, and his decision to move the Israel embassy to Jerusalem, the President spoke clearly to the nation, the world and our enemies of his resolve and rationale. Win or lose today, Trump’s reorganization of the Middle East (assuming, if Biden wins, he doesn’t mess it up) and shifting our allies focus from Russia to China will be the most significant foreign policy accomplishment since Reagan brought down the USSR (something Bush, Clinton) messed up beyond measure.