I haven’t gotten to this sooner, as I’ve been dealing with kids, and a massive resurgence of the summer head-cold that I thought I’d shook. But it’s still worthwhile discussing a week later in the aftermath of convention.
A reckoning has been inching forward for how statewide candidates are selected in recent years, and after this last convention there has been more rumbling. And the last race at convention this year may have been the last nail in the coffin for convincing legislators that a change needs to be made in how the candidates for statewide office need to be selected.
After nearly a month of lead-time to declare his intent, in mid-afternoon on June 24th, with nearly no -time to spare, Steve Haugaard, who lost the race for Governor on a 3-1 basis (76-24%) entered the race for Lt. Governor at convention, with about 24 hours to campaign.
With the make-up of convention delegates, Haugaard lost to Rhoden on a tighter weighted vote of 56% to 44%. Literally, the Governor who won on a 3-1 basis was within 10% of being saddled with a running mate who she not only soundly defeated, but a person who often maligned her with some pretty harsh attacks. Which strongly raised a question that had been mentioned in passing as recently as the last time we went through this process – it is time to change the law and allow the Governor to appoint their running mate?
Many candidates for Governor do this in virtual terms now, by pre-announcing their running mate prior to convention, as Kristi did 4-years ago, and Democrats do in the run up to their convention. When things go as planned, it’s only a perfunctory blessing, but in a year like this, when voters clearly made their choice known, delegates elected to represent their precincts seem to have ignored their voters and gone awry.
I’ve heard chatter that there are legislators who want to move that pick directly to the Gubernatorial candidates. And really, unless we’re going to pick those offices individually, is there any justification to force a Lt. Governor onto the ticket with a Governor in a shotgun convention wedding?
After the convention results, there is also talk to move the selection of other candidates to the primary ballot.
There are those who think in addition of letting the Gov have their pick for their Lt Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State could easily be sent to the Republican electorate as a whole in the primary election, making the primary elections a little larger, and giving all Republicans an opportunity to have a say in who their candidates are.
Going back to the results of what happened at the GOP Convention, there has been concerned expressed that precinct representatives of the counties were not representative of the area they represented. One example was how Brown County came in for Secretary of State Steve Barnett.. or how it didn’t.
Brown County Republican Convention delegates came in nearly 2-1 against Steve Barnett.In 2018, Barnett won Brown County in the general election on a 68-31% basis, even with Democrats voting. But at convention, the vote against him were the Republicans in his home county. Was there any great scandal or controversy to cause them to abandon him? No. Not at all.
Which is one example. And brings up the question whether delegates are elected to represent their precinct, or if they are there to represent their own views.
All this talk might be just that – talk. But it’s talk coming after a convention designed for unity saw a lack of unity from some of the people there. As they found themselves shut out from the June Primary ballot, some might say they made an effort to seize power at the next place they thought they could, at the convention.
But is the convention supposed to be about seizing power, or about the party coming together after a primary and moving the best candidates forward? Because when factions within the party are doing their best to block resolutions recognizing the top of the ticket as they did this year, someone’s crazy aunt needs to settle down at the table before they ruin the holiday for everyone.
We have a lot of months to go until the election, and we can hope that there’s more of a spirit of cooperation that comes to the surface in that time to help all Republican candidates in November.
Or not. And that’s when we’ll start losing elections.
In the words of Rodney King, “can’t we all just get along?”
Pat, you are right on target. The convention style allows a small, well-motivated MINORITY (actually a micro-fraction) of the overall voting republican vote statewide, to take over the selection of candidates. 300-400 delegates, out of what, a couple hundred thousand voting republicans?
Same reason I opposed Amendment C, along with 2/3’s of my fellow voters….we believe in majority rule, not MINORITY rule, ie, convention, or the 40% who could stop budget changes even if 59% of the public favored it.
I’m with the idea of an Lt selected by the gov.
I’m not sure someone should have to run as a ticket though in the primary. Imagine in a contested primary where Noem and Jackley or Mickelson and Clint Robert or Janklow and Miller duked it out. Maybe they want to see how they do in the primary? Then pick someone to position for the general.
Simply submitting a piece of paper to the party and making it automatic for the governors choice would make me happy.
The other offices should not be primaries. Down ballot races would confuse voters. Yes Bafnett would do well when he runs as an incumbent but 12 years ago no one knew who he was. Imagine having to choose between 3 unknowns for Auditor, Treasurer, PUC, AG, Public Lands, SOS.
That’s quite a ballot. Many of these candidates win a general based on the R next to their name.
Moving to a primary would make it so 100k people are guessing for most positions. Which could be even more problematic.
I’ll listen to the need for change if Monae Johnson loses the general but I suspect she wins 55-60% of the vote.
In the end the rowdy convention chose the best candidates. Jackley, Rhoden and Monae Johnson might be more in line with the current GOP anyway when it comes to election concerns.
Why shouldn’t the lower level offices have to face a primary, if they want to be elected to statewide office? They just coast to a lifetime of gravy and no real job to do, except maybe the AG who of course was Mr. Ravnsborg the Inept for a while, which shows you the office could run itsownself.
The Haugaard vote was more against Noem than against Rhoden. Many of us aren’t happy with the way she used and discarded Laura Kaiser, or with her lack of contrition about using the state plane to campaign for president at public expense.
The Republican establishment would do well to consider possible substantive reasons for the split in the party, rather than dismissing half of the convention as evil and stupid.
“Many of us aren’t happy with the way she used and discarded Laura Kaiser”
So you’re saying there was an expectation of quid pro quo?
In return for cutting the Noem television ad that broke open the 2018 primary for governor, Kaiser probably expected Noem to help her prevent Marty Jackley from winning another election to statewide office.
I could not have said this any better. I found the op lacking in analysis as to why things were the way they were.
We were gaslit for calling the stolen election. We would prefer to have candidates that are funded by people not corporations.
There really is a laundry list of grievances.
Convention should be like football practice. You hit hard to gauge readiness.
I was fine with the contention because I know it will make us stronger. We really do need some new perspectives and ideas to create future proof economies and put America First.
I thought the management team of the state party really put a terrible foot forward with the way convention was managed. Paying hundreds to have input? 4 hour marathon voting session?
Lastly, as was the case with Monae Johnson, sometimes the candidate is just way more qualified and representative.
If you consider the most important issue to us who do not follow discredited MSM it is really not surprising at all; election integrity.
At least this is how I see things.
As always thanks for considering my thoughts and opinions.
John, if the people participating are supposed to have a free 3-day party, who would you say is supposed to pay for it?
The serious people in the room with deep concern for the integrity of our state and nation were not there to party.
John Dale, the serious people all paid $300 each and had to listen to the freeloader caucus complain about having to pay for meals and motel rooms and bash the chairman for not refunding their registration fee.
The convention was very well run in spite of the freeloaders’ efforts to mess it up.
Things would have proceeded much more smoothly without them.
It figures the people complaining about chaos and confusion were the ones who caused it. They didn’t know why they were there, didn’t know what was going on, blamed everyone else for their ignorance, and were very disruptive. They were clueless and angry.
It’s probably a given that they did not understand that a vote for David Natvig was a vote for Randy Seiler (if they even know who Randy Seiler is) or that Steve Haugaard and Kristi Noem haven’t seen eye to eye on much of anything for the past few years, or even know who Larry Rhoden is.
SMH
The election wasnt stolen, nutbar.
Nor was it stolen in 2016, jackwagon.
Are you calling the other anonymous poster a jackwagon, or me?
What is a jackwagon?
Is that good or bad?
To think that the election wasn’t stolen is to be part of a fringe disconnected conspiracy group that is getting smaller every day.
John, I’m referring to the one who took a shot at you.
Packet captures, John. Dont think we’ve forgotten your ever evolving theory. And sure, try to pai t yourself as the majority, lol. You and reality need to get reacquainted soon.
I agree! You want be to be a liberal, but I’m not. I just hate liars.
Monae Johnson will be the most qualified SOS since Chris Nelson in 2002.
” Monae Johnson will be the most qualified SOS since Chris Nelson in 2002. ”
Her work history says NO. Glorified paper shuffler.
Ditto!
I should clarify that this is what I agree with in reply:
The Republican establishment would do well to consider possible substantive reasons for the split in the party, rather than dismissing half of the convention as evil and stupid.
The blemish was those who thought the corrupt Natvig and HR regime was worthy of the AG job over Jackley. That is where they lost credibility.
So the GOP nominee can just select Billie Sutton if they want? What is the check on that?
I can’t think of one time the convention backed the weaker candidate.
Ravnsborg was a worse AG but he worked harder than Russell and Fitz.
Barnett may have had better name Id but Johnson ran circles around him campaigning. She just wanted it more.
As far as Haugaard and Rhoden go I voted for Rhoden and found Haugaard’s challenge embarrassing.
That said the governor is supposed to be a unifier and she was not able to do that because she was busy primarying many people who had a vote at convention or those who had friends going to convention. They have long memories.
Tom Brunner and Rhonda Milstead nominated Haugaard. Noem appointed Milstead. Tom Brunner was worked against. Pischke was. Spencer Gosch, Mulally, post, Koskan, Wies, wiese, perry, dennert, Soy, Karr, begalka, kevin jensen, lems, Qualm’s, Randolph, Jensen…. the list is way to long and I could keep going.
They found a way to take a shot at her and protest their disdain for her. Right or wrong it was very personal.
Rhoden gave the best speech of his life.
All of those fellows you mentioned are insaner than most. Except young Ms. Soye. Half of those fellows are not very smart. Except Mr. Pischke.
Soye is crazy. Her wardrobe is so unprofessional especially her sneakers.
I met her at convention. I thought I’d be impressed. She barely had time to say hi and was there to vote against Rhoden, Barnett and Jackley.
I left unimpressed.
Leave the system as is minus the Lt.
So are we crabbing about how women dress again? I thought that was Haugaard’s job..
Dennert did not run, Weis and Perry needed to go. Aberdeen deserves better.
That’s up to Aberdeen. They sent one packing and kept two. Brandei will vote like Weis but be better at it.
The entire primary process was a cluster this year. Everyone hates everyone.
She will be another innefective extremist representing Brown County in the legislature.
I agree Rhoden’s speech was incredible, especially having to follow seconds after Haugaard’s rant about us all being heathens…
I was voting for him anyway but he was very good.
Team Noem hates Roetman but they should look inward at their primary race meddling and legislative relationships.
Not saying it is a one way street because legislators do the same thing by endorsing Haugaard against her.
grudznick, for one, is glad to be a heathen.
I found it to be emotional, not containing many facts, not articulating strategic meat, and it had an uncomfortable begging and pleading sort of timbre.
That was the best speech of his life?
Wow.
🙂
No proxy servers, please.
^ this was me .. my auto fill horked for some reason. 😀
I can’t believe it. Soy may return to Pierre. She’s Taffy’s little sister. Give her another two years and she will be exactly like Taffy. And that’s downright sad.
Yeah. very disappointing.
Any attorney who wanted Natvig over Jackley was doing a disservice to those who work at the AG office.
anonymous at 11:46 Everybody who voted for Natvig was voting for Seiler, who would have immediately announced his candidacy, run a strong campaign in opposition to Ravnsborg’s relatively unknown friend, and won in November. Seiler has name recognition and has run a statewide race before; Natvig was unknown to the public until he was accused of lying to the house investigating committee. First impressions are important and that accusation was a bad one. Whether or not the accusation is fair is beside the point, because it’s politics, and politics isn’t about fairness.
Barnett lost because he didn’t push “election integrity” right? Sounds like Trump is still hitting the party. Get what ya deserve.
Hurting
Jim Abdnor was also chosen Lt. Governor by the convention against the wishes of Governor Farrar. Jim proved to be a much better party builder and longer public servant than Farrar. This piece of historic information should be included in any meaningful analysis of the current situation.
Lance is right. Who checks the power on the Governor if they just select the LG? There can be real differences among candidates and voters. For example the dems pick GOP for LT. What if a GOP nominee picked a Dem? Or prochoice? Are we just supposed to accept that?
It is not nor it has it ever been the job of the Lt. Gov to “check” the Gov. It is the job of the legislative and judicial branches to do that. Also this hypothetical “choosing of a Dem” is laughable considering the Dems can barely find candidates in the first place!
Times change. In 20 years we could see SF blue and maybe the hills being run by hippies.
Politicians want to win. If a dem or Rep being on the opposite ticket helps then they will do it.
https://www.keloland.com/news/capitol-news-bureau/haugaard-switched-sides-in-challenging-rhoden/
Check out Idaho – this is what happens when a state party doesn’t promote unity at the top of the ticket. A mess. https://www.businessinsider.com/idaho-governor-primary-brad-little-vs-janice-mcgeachin-live-results-2022-5.
Unity happens from hard work of compromise, not from top-down edicts (bandaids).
John Dale, you continue to misunderstand what went on at the convention.
The purpose of the convention is to bring everyone together and rally support for the final slate of candidates, promote party unity, and raise some money on the side.
Most of the candidates were selected in the primary two weeks earlier, including the precinct committee men and women whose job it is to devote the next 4 months conducting the political campaign in their precincts. They need to get out the vote for the slate of candidates, including the ones they did not personally vote for in the primary. That is the job they signed up for.
Instead many of them showed up at the convention to complain that the candidates they voted for hadn’t won, declared they would not support the Republican slate, and complained constantly that the costs should be paid for with Other People’s Money, because they have no intention of supporting the Republican Party financially themselves.
To sum it up: they were at the wrong convention. ‘
To continue to blame the chairman for their misbehavior is ridiculous. If they didn’t read the precinct committee person job description in Section 3 of the SDGOP bylaws when they signed up for the job, that’s on them. If they assumed somebody else was going to pay for them to go to the convention, that’s on them. If they were recruited to vote for Monae, and Dave Roetman didn’t tell them what they were getting themselves into, well, that’s because Dave missed his calling as an Army recruiter and that’s all I have to say about that..
Noem bares much of the responsibility for 0 untiy
This is all short sighted.
When one of these radicals wins a federal office or gov they will control money also and invest in primaries.
Convention is also much less expensive for the candidates running. There is only so much money in SD. I’m not sure donors can afford the added cost to support a half dozen more primaries.
No, Noem is not responsible for the lack of unity.
The pandemic put her (and every other elected leader) in no-win situations.
About 1/3 were mad at her because she didn’t lock down the state. Another 1/3 was mad at her because she didn’t forbid employers from mandating vaccinations.
Then there are the people mad at her because she recommended that people over 65 stay out of public places in Sioux Falls, she wanted the Department of Health to be able to enforce quarantine orders, and it goes on and on. She did too much, she didn’t do enough, nobody was happy. It’s all her fault Covid killed over 2500 South Dakotans. It’s all her fault people had to wear masks and lost their jobs because of vaccine mandates.
The only thing we could all agree on was the statement “I can take care of myself but the governor needs to tell everybody else what to do.”
You are delusional. Noem is 100% what is driving the party apart with her DC tactics. Voted for in 18 but never again
Dear Republicans,
I have often wondered about repealing the 12th Amendment of the U.S Constitution which would allow the “voting districts” within the federal territory to vote for the President, while the Runner-Up would simply be the person who obtains the 2nd Most # of Delegates.
But this would not work unless ‘we’ convince the Legislature’s to return America back to a 1 District Vote per each Member of the U.S House. Meaning for each of the 435 Districts, whom ever wins the popular vote in each “District”, we apportion the delegates based on 1 Delegate per District (not the popular vote of the State).
Why not do the same process for the “governorship” – Why not elect 1 Delegate from each Voting Precinct (precinct committeeman), while as the voters go to the polls to vote for the governor, each Precinct counts as 1 Delegate Vote. While the candidate with the 2nd Most Delegates becomes Lt. Governor.
If no candidate receives more than 50% +1 of the Precinct Delegates. So that means ouf of 679 Precincts, to be Governor, a candidate must get 340 Delegates.
While each political party may through the registered voters of each party nominate and choose their candidates @ a statewide convention of each political party, let alone the People may petition and nominate independent candidates at their own free will, thus placing as many candidates on the general ballot in November as much as possible.
We would need to create a “Rule” in the event no candidate receives 340 Delegates. I believe Congress must take the top five candidates receiving the majority of votes, placing them on a special ballot.
My thinking is this – IF No “Candidate” for governor gets 340, the Legislature then must take the top five candidates receiving the majority of votes, placing them on a special ballot, where then each Legislative District (35) gets one vote each to determine who becomes Governor, while of course the “runner up” becomes Lt. Governor.
Would this not be a fair manner of choosing our “governor” – if done in this manner, Statewide, the “people” would be able to get their top two choices to sit at the “head” of State Government, while in the event something happens to their first choice, whether he/she gets sick, takes a leave of absence, or dies in office, the people therefore have their 2nd Choice to Operate the Government.
I have never been a huge supporter of the “Party” choosing their running mate, I believe the Founding Fathers had it correct in the original concept of choosing the President, and I feel the same concept would work great for Governor, while at the same time, there is nothing wrong with primarying candidates for elected or appointed positions for Attorney General, Auditor, Secretary of State either.
you presume the runner-up wants the job of Lt Governor. And that is the problem. It’s a job, not a consolation prize.
I do not presume anything. I simply spoke on the original concept, restricting party politics, and allowing the people and their representatives to nominate and establish candidates on a public ballot. As the true job of the President is to ‘represent’ the States in foreign affairs, the real job of the governor is to represent the thirty-five districts across the state in the name of state affairs, not allowing one faction ensuring that each city, town, ensuring that all citizens of the state are equally protected, while working with other State Governors to help manage the “country” itself. When the people collectively vote to elect the governor, and if the Lt. Governor is the runner up in any such vote, the PEOPLE have their top two choices at the head of state. So if something happens to the Governor, the Lt. Governor is there to fill that void.
If the person who becomes the Lt. Governor does not want the job of governor, then he or she should not run nor put himself out there. Like the Vice President, the Lt. Governor really has no responsibilities other than to sit in his dining room, coloring in his color book, watching Television 24-7. They really could simply stay home unless called upon to help the Governor or the President promote their agenda when needed.
I will be looking forward to Haugaard running as a Libertarian in the General. Yes, I do believe he is that deluded.