I’m back making new pins for the 2026 election, and the first batch just arrived!

If you’ve read dakotawarcollege.com for any amount of time, you know I am an avid fan of political history in the form of the ephemera of political campaigns. If you have to look up the term – it’s a term for the swag. Political memorabilia. I have long collected political buttons, and especially South Dakota political memorabilia.  My collection doesn’t hold a candle to that of Lee Schoenbeck who arguably has the largest collection of South Dakota political buttons, but it’s not anything to be ashamed of either.

That’s one big group of them.. and I badly need to do an update, because I have another case full that’s in a bin that I haven’t had time to get to.

With my obsession established.. (remember, it’s not hoarding if you call it a collection).. I have to note that, except for Kristi Noem, many of the official political pins in recent years in South Dakota are kind of bland.  But, it’s with good reason.  People are not big into them except collectors.   So, why would campaigns invest a lot of time and money into variety? They’re going to get their logo on a couple hundred pins, and hand them out at fundraisers.

4 years ago, just for fun, I made some “vendor pins.” Buttons that were not campaign produced, but made for friends or for sale, and they turned out really well. A Kristi Noem Country Pin (after the Reagan Country pin) and a Dusty Johnson “punchy the elephant pin” after a 1953 Young Republican National Convention in the Black Hills pin.

In fact, they turned out so well, that Governor Noem who has always had fun political pins for her campaign commissioned me to produce an official campaign version of the Kristi Noem Country pin, a similar Larry Rhoden pin, and another pin – a Goldwater throwback pin – for the Noem for Governor campaign.

Fast forward to 2025 with the campaigns kicking off ..and I’m back to seeing the more generic “logo” political buttons being produced. Nothing wrong with them at all, as any smart campaign is pushing campaign and office.   But as a collector, I kind of like the stuff that’s …different.  So, I couldn’t help myself.  I put two different “vendor pins” in the production line, and the first one landed on my doorstep a short time ago. And it turned out great.

I was thinking I wanted to do something somewhat obnoxious and in my thought process the light bulb lit up. You’ve all seen the over the top t-shirts of Abe Lincoln riding a grizzly bear?  Like this one?  That’s what informed my thought process.. And I came up with pin #1, of which I now have a very limited number available.

With the caveat that this is a completely unofficial vendor pin, it’s a button which I have titled the Dakotawarcollege.com “Dusty Johnson Hell Yeah! pin.”

Yes, that’s a graphic of candidate for Governor Dusty Johnson riding a buffalo shooting a flame thrower.  Because we need more candidates pictured riding wild animals triggering incendiary devices.  Obviously, the concept amused me, so I turned it into a big 3 1/2 inch pin.

I will have a VERY limited number of them available (about 5-6 dozen). I’m thinking for about $7.50 each, which will mainly cover my shipping.  I’ll get a link put up shortly to buy them on-line.  Probably late next week, when Pin #2, which is currently in the finishing process with my production house should drop on my doorstep. And it’s equally as fun and off the wall.

Stay tuned. Because we need more fun and off the wall in our politics.