Neal has joined the campaign as an independent in the general election, which in case no one reminded him, will not just have Republicans voting, but also Democrats and Independents voting in this election, as he runs against the two GOP nominees.
I’m not thinking that running not just to the right, but to the far, far right of the Republicans in the race is going to be effective in this contest.
Supposedly after bypass surgery, Jim Eschenbaum, the 32-year former Democrat who is currently in charge of the SDGOP was going to be laid up for several weeks. But it seems that this time-table has been cast by the wayside as he gathered his strength from convalescing to tap out this post to social media attacking the front-runner in the race for Governor:
Didn’t the chair at one time say the party should stay out of primary elections?
Of course, that was after he originally said they should be involved..
Hand County Commissioner Jim Eschenbaum tried to use the word unity, but said the divide in the party can not be fixed because “we have politicians and people who are establishment players and they want to play politics” among other random words and noises that exited his voice box.
Eschenbaum spent more time attacking Sen. Thune, Governor Noem, a majority of the legislature and others, as well as declaring that the party should be involved in primary elections because that’s our wrestling match.
It’s challenging to keep up with the chairman’s flip-flops.
But maybe that he’s feeling well enough to tap things out on his phone, the worst chairman in SDGOP history could pivot from attacking officeholders to devoting some time to attempting to raise money?
There’s a reason that sometimes you get a second opinion on political pieces. I collaborate with people all the time. Sometimes you can look at things 100 times, and not catch something. And someone else sees an error or something that just doesn’t work right away.
In fact, I was looking at something just on Friday and pointed out “you’re clipping the top of the candidates head off” and they immediately went and fixed it.
So, when someone sent this over to me today, my jaw immediately dropped.
This piece is a postcard sent out by District 16 House Candidate Jason Vandentop, with language on the card which declares him a Christian and conservative leader, as he stands next to a White American sign.
Yes, there was a tractor manufactured by the White Company in the 1980’s. And yes, they called it the American.
But you know, you take a picture standing in front of that, put that on the front of a political postcard referring to yourself as a conservative Christian.. and that just takes on a different meaning.
If there are any other tractor aficionados out there.. I think I’d stick with the International Harvester’s or John Deere’s.
Just so people don’t start wondering.
Update.. forgot to mention, here’s the other side. There’s no disclaimer on this postcard either- which is actually against the law:
During the first week of May, we celebrate Small Business Week. This time of year, the impact that small businesses have in our communities is especially evident. We might notice the Little League team has the name of its local business sponsor on the back of its jerseys. High schoolers might be applying for summer jobs at a restaurant on Main Street. And a little outside of town, we can see planting season is underway on family farms across South Dakota.
Small businesses aren’t just a big part of our economy, they’re also pillars of our communities. Nearly half of private sector jobs in America are at small businesses, and most of our nation’s job growth comes from smaller enterprises. And one of my top priorities is strengthening our small businesses, farms, and ranches so they can continue to be engines of growth and opportunity in our country.
That’s exactly what Republicans did last year with the Working Families Tax Cuts. In addition to permanent tax relief for hardworking South Dakotans, this bill included permanent, pro-growth tax policy to help South Dakota small businesses, farms, and ranches. It made permanent the lower small business tax rates that Republicans enacted in 2017. It also made permanent full expensing for new equipment, which allows small businesses to deduct the full cost of a new piece of equipment the year they start using it, which makes it a lot easier for a farmer to buy a new tractor or a factory to get a new machine online.
This bill also made permanent the 199A small business deduction, which enables South Dakota small businesses to reduce their tax burden and free up money to invest in their operations and their employees. In fact, one agricultural cooperative in our state estimates the impact of this deduction at over $100 million since it was first enacted in 2017, and another South Dakota business credits it with allowing them to build a large addition and hire additional employees.
Here in South Dakota, a lot of our small businesses are also family businesses, and the Working Families Tax Cuts helps ensure more of these enterprises stay in the family for generations to come. I’m proud to have worked to increase the exemption threshold for the death tax in this bill, which protects a lot more family businesses, farms, and ranches from a possibly devastating tax bill when they pass the business on to the next generation, not to mention the costly estate planning expenses that many families incur because of this unfair tax.
As much as this bill helps their businesses, when I talk to small business owners in South Dakota, they are often most excited about what the Working Families Tax Cuts does for their employees and customers. This bill puts more money in their customers’ pockets, and policies like no tax on tips and no tax on overtime deliver significant tax savings for their employees.
Like a lot of South Dakotans, I got my start working at a small business when I was in high school, taking shifts at the Star Family Restaurant in Murdo. I know there’s nothing small about the impact these businesses have in their communities, and I’m proud to be working to strengthen our small businesses so they can continue to be engines for the American Dream.
Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Kenneth Kredit
PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Saturday, May 2, 2026, in honor of former state legislator Kenneth Kredit. He served in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1995-1998.
A memorial service will be held at 11:30 am CT on Saturday, May 2, 2026, at Platte Christian Reformed Church in Platte, SD.
Rooted in Rural America By Rep. Dusty Johnson May 1, 2026
BIG News
I’ve met with ag producers across South Dakota and they all agree – we need a Farm Bill. Farmers and ranchers want certainty as they plan for the future, and outdated farm policy is holding them back.
This week, we got one step closer to providing that certainty: the House passed the Farm Bill with my support. This legislation contained a dozen of my priorities to support rural America and South Dakota producers. These investments in American agriculture strengthen communities, secure our food supply chains, and put our producers first.
My bills to expand processing capacity outside of the Big 4 meat packers, protect American trade, end California’s Prop 12 requirements, and support working lands conservation were included in the Farm Bill.
BIG Idea
Access to high-speed internet brings e-commerce, education, and socialization to the most remote areas of our state. Federal programs to deploy rural broadband and connect all Americans must be implemented to maximize impact. The Farm Bill I just passed strengthens this connectivity.
This week, I met with the South Dakota Telecommunications Association to discuss how the Farm Bill supports their work and additional ways to achieve a more connected South Dakota.
Johnson meets with South Dakota Telecommunications Association members
BIG Update
South Dakota continues to grow – that’s great news – but it presents challenges when it comes to a ensuring a sustainable water supply for future generations. I testified in the House Natural Resources Committee on behalf of my bills to help the Lewis & Clark, Dakota Mainstem, and Western Dakota water projects receive the approval they need to move forward. Each system would draw water from the Missouri River to provide ample resources for communities in eastern, southeastern, and western South Dakota. Together, these projects will reach more than half of the South Dakota population.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of water – I’m grateful for the opportunity to partner with these water systems to ensure South Dakota remains healthy and strong for generations to come.
Attorney General Jackley Releases Draft Explanation on Proposed Ballot Issue Requiring 60 Percent Approval for Constitutional Amendments and Revisions
PIERRE, S.D. – As required by state law, the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office has drafted an explanation for a Constitutional Amendment proposed by the Legislature that would require any future proposed Constitutional Amendment or Revision receive an affirmative vote of at least 60 percent of the votes cast to be approved. The draft explanation has been filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.
Attorney General Marty Jackley takes no position on any such proposal for purposes of the ballot explanation. He has provided a fair and neutral explanation to help assist the voters as required by state law.
Rep. John Hughes and Sen. Sue Peterson are listed as the prime sponsors of the proposal which was approved by the 2025 South Dakota Legislature.
State law requires the Attorney General draft a title and explanation for each initiated measure, initiated constitutional amendment, constitutional amendment proposed by the Legislature, or referred measure that may appear on an election ballot. The Attorney General’s explanation is meant to be an “objective, clear, and simple summary” intended to “educate the voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed” measure, as well as identify the “legal consequences” of each measure.
Once the Attorney General has filed and posted the draft explanation, the public has 10 days to provide written comment. The explanation was filed May 1, 2026, and the deadline for comments on this explanation is May 11, 2026, at the close of business in Pierre, South Dakota. The final explanation is due to the Secretary of State on May 19, 2026.
If approved, the explanation will accompany the proposal on the 2026 general election ballot which is Nov. 3.
To file written comments regarding the language of the explanation, not the merits of the proposal, please use one of the following methods below. Copies of all comments received by the deadline will be posted on this website.
Comments may be submitted via mail, or through hand delivery, to the Attorney General’s Office at:
Office of the Attorney General Ballot Comment 1302 S.D. E. Hwy. 1889, Suite #1 Pierre, SD 57501
Comments that are hand delivered must be received by the close of business in Pierre, South Dakota, by May 10, 2026.
Comments may also be emailed to [email protected] by May 11, 2026 Comments should be clearly expressed in the body of the email. The Attorney General’s Office will not open attachments in an effort to prevent malware or other digital threats. Please include your name and contact information when submitting your comment. The title of the comment must be included in the subject line of the email.
Rounds Discusses Eliminating the Department of Education with Secretary McMahon
McMahon: “Governors, state superintendents, state school boards will decide how this money should be spent in their state”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) recently discussed plans to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education with Secretary Linda McMahon at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies.
“I am concerned, as most of the people on this committee are, with regards to the direction that education has been going nationally since the creation of the Education Department,” said Rounds. “The latest scores from the National Assessment for Educational Progress, they’re really kind of a national embarrassment. Two thirds of our nation’s fourth graders can’t read proficiently. Even worse, one-third of eighth graders scored below basic, the highest percentage ever recorded. That means these kids can’t identify basic literary elements in a text. In math, the gap between high and low performing students is the widest it’s ever been. The Department of Education was originally created to collect education data and advise state and local organizations on best practices, but it’s really become a place, until you came into the picture, where it was a top-down direction-giving program. I like the approach that you’re taking in returning it back to the states.”
“Well, to your point, sir, in this proposed budget is $2 billion that would go as a block grant to states through a formula that’ll be worked on,” said McMahon. “What this will allow states to do that don’t always participate in grant making because they maybe don’t have enough money to hire grant writers, etc. But now all states will participate in money coming from this $2 billion. And then governors, state superintendents, state school boards will decide how this money should be spent in their state, where the greatest needs are, whether that’s in rural communities. Whatever those programs are, they will be deciding how to spend that money.”
Rounds has long been pushing to dissolve the Department of Education and return critical programs back to other agencies. He first introduced the Returning Education to Our States Act in November 2024 and reintroduced it for the 119th Congress in April 2025. Rounds has met with McMahon multiple times to discuss this legislation, which aligns with the Secretary’s plans for the Department.
Watch the exchange HERE. Read a transcript of the exchange below.
+++
Rounds: Madam Secretary, welcome. Let me just begin by saying thank you for taking the time to visit South Dakota and to talk about the goals moving forward with regard to the planning that you’ve got to deliver education decision making back to the states. Before I really get into that portion of it, I’d like to kind of share some concerns as well with regard to the TRIO program. I think this is one that a lot of folks have got some concerns with. And I would just ask that with the amount of attention you’ve seen here in this committee, if you would just commit to us that you would do the follow ups with it on some of the concerns that have been expressed about the loss or the changes to the TRIO program and that it is a sensitive area.
McMahon: Certainly will do that.
Rounds: Thank you Madam Secretary. I’ve appreciated your willingness to visit the issue of bringing the decisions for education back to the states, and your Returning Education to the States tour I thought was a really good idea. I like the idea that those decisions should be made at the local level. I think there’s a number of areas within the Department of Education that we’ve been working on, through legislation, trying to divvy back out again to the departments that they were in before the Department was ever created. I like the fact that you’ve been working very hard at doing agreements with other agencies, in which you would take something which is currently with the Department of Education, and moving it back over to where it was before 1980. I like those ideas. We’ve introduced legislation that would do something similar and work our way back through, providing more block grant opportunities to the states with money, but then looking at specific areas such as impact aid and IDEA and so forth. Not block granting those things, but keeping those areas together in an office and the money with it. So, I just appreciate the way that you’ve focused on this.
I am concerned, as most of the people on this committee are, with regards to the direction that education has been going nationally since the creation of the Education department. The latest scores from the National Assessment for Educational Progress, they’re really kind of a national embarrassment. Two thirds of our nation’s fourth graders can’t read proficiently. Even worse, one-third of eighth graders scored below basic, the highest percentage ever recorded. That means these kids can’t identify basic literary elements in a text. In math, the gap between high and low performing students is the widest it’s ever been. The Department of Education was originally created to collect education data and advise state and local organizations on best practices, but it’s really become a place, until you came into the picture, where it was a top-down direction-giving program. I like the approach that you’re taking in returning it back to the states.
Can you just, in a broad sense, would you like to share a little bit about what your vision is in terms of what the Department of Education should be like, as opposed to what it was when you found it, in terms of listening to the states and empowering the states, but not necessarily telling the states what they’re supposed to do in a one-size-fits-all model?
McMahon: Well, to your point, sir, in this proposed budget is $2 billion that would go as a block grant to states through a formula that’ll be worked on. What this will allow states to do that don’t always participate in grant making because they maybe don’t have enough money to hire grant writers, etc. But now all states will participate in money coming from this $2 billion. And then governors, state superintendents, state school boards will decide how this money should be spent in their state, where the greatest needs are, whether that’s in rural communities. Whatever those programs are, they will be deciding how to spend that money.
It is a reduction in the total amount of dollars that are going. There are some programs that the Department has looked at that we have eliminated. We’ve also condensed about 17 programs into this block process. So, I think there is opportunity for states, you know, to take on this responsibility. And as a reminder, as you’re aware, states provide about 93% of their own education budget. So, the amount that comes from, you know, the federal government is small by total comparison of the money that is spent in each state, you know, for its education process. So, I think the government wants to continue through Title 1A funding. We’re recommending that’s level funded. IDEA, we have, through our budget, proposed the greatest increase in a long time, a half a billion dollars for IDEA funding, and that includes $50 million for infants and children in their programs so that they’re ready to accept these children who might have disabilities at birth or very early on. So I think that you know, the administration is showing that we’re very concerned about our children and about education across the board.
Rounds: I appreciate your comments on it. I’m going to run out of time, but I did want to I just identify one more item on and that’s Impact Aid. It’s really important because that’s the money that comes back to the states to replace what would otherwise have been property tax dollars and so forth that were found for like an area where on a Native American reservation or in an air force base, where it’s the assistance to an area that may have federal lands that otherwise aren’t taxed. And Impact Aid is really important to some of our more rural states like South Dakota. And I think one of the questions had been if it was to be delivered back out, would you keep it with a particular other department in terms of an agreement or an operational plan? Do you know where Impact Aid might end up or would you keep it within the Department of Education?
McMahon: We haven’t determined that. Happy to get back to you on that. However, I want you to know that the Impact Aid dollars are going out on time where they’re supposed to go.
Rounds: Excellent. Excellent. That takes a load off of a lot of these smaller school districts that really rely on that Impact Aid. Yes. I thank you for the attention to that matter.
A Safer Parole System By: Governor Larry Rhoden May 1, 2026
South Dakota is a safe place, and, thanks to the work of our law enforcement, we have decreased crime in double-digit percentages in several categories. But we never settle – and we are not satisfied. Just like life on the ranch, there is always work to be done.
It took everyone working together to achieve the largest single investment in public safety: building a new men’s prison. Because of that success, we are now able to expand opportunities for rehabilitative programming. Soon, we will be past the overcrowding of our current gothic prison. It is time to move on to the next public safety challenge: designing a safer parole system.
Parole reform has always been a topic of conversation, even more so since the prison plan took shape. My team has been working with experts and stakeholders to peel back the layers of the issue and target them with solutions, one at a time. I recently announced some serious reforms at the Department of Corrections (DOC) to tackle these issues.
Parolees committing new crimes is a problem. Most folks think parolees would never commit any crimes so long as they are supervised by their parole agent – if only it were so simple. Parolees were in prison because they committed a crime, and despite our best efforts, some of them will fall into their old ways when they get out. Agents can’t be with parolees 24/7, so no parole system will prevent all crime, but there are ways to improve. I have formed a new team of specialized parole agents. This will include more check-ins, especially evenings and weekends, for the most intensive parolees. If they aren’t following the laws, they will go back to prison.
When an inmate is released on parole, the inmate promises to follow nine standard conditions. When a violation occurs, parole agents do their best to balance accountability with the opportunity for rehabilitation. The stories I have heard about parolees receiving too many second chances are frustrating and wrong, so we have changed this process. I have directed the DOC to take a tougher stance on DUIs, drug use, simple assault, and weapons violations that are a danger to others.
In just the first week since changing this policy, DOC nearly doubled the average number of revocations. These policies and others will continue to be reviewed by DOC as they plan the “Smarter Supervision Initiative,” which they announced last month.
I’m committed to working with law enforcement, judges, and other elected officials on additional changes. Parole is one component of the criminal justice system. When the blame for a “broken” parole system is placed on one agency, remember: the Legislature makes the law, the executive implements it, and the judiciary applies it. If inmates display good behavior in prison, state law requires DOC to release them at their initial parole eligibility date. There is no discretion to hold them past that date, or DOC would be breaking the law. As legislators participate in the Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force and consider how to enhance rehabilitation, this may be an area to consider legislative changes.
Make no mistake, we are not done yet. This will take time. And just like work on the ranch, the work will never truly be done. I am thankful to all our law enforcement leaders for working together to keep South Dakota safe. If you have concerns and ideas, I would love to hear them. I am committed to working on legislation to further reform our parole laws.
If you read my earlier post on this, this is the news article that you need to go with it. Recalling the images hitting social media….
Dylan Jordan’s buddies in the Young Americans for Liberty group have declared war on many legislators in the Republican Party, whether they are conservative or hard-right. And according to this article from 2024, we might expect that they will soon flood South Dakota with postcards:
There is no political organization that has spent more money on Wyoming’s 2024 primary election than Make Liberty Win, an out-of-state Libertarian-affiliated group that supports the legalization of marijuana.
As first reported by Cowboy State Daily, Make Liberty Win is an Alexandria, Virginia-based group that spent $371,260 on more than 40 state Legislature races around Wyoming in 2024. It’s unlikely that a single group has ever spent this much money on Wyoming state legislative races before.
Make Liberty Win is a subsidiary of the Austin, Texas-based conservative Libertarian group Young Americans for Liberty.
and..
A number of the mailers sent out by Make Liberty Win encourage people to “join the RINO hunt” against a particular candidate, in reference to the acronym Republican in name only. The doorknob fliers declare “RINO SPOTTED,” with a binocular-style image of the lawmaker seen as not conservative enough for the group.
Make Liberty Win used a similar theme in other state races across the country in places like South Dakota, Idaho, Michigan and Texas, posting similar graphics when one of the alleged RINOs lost an election with “(BAGGED AND TAGGED)” printed over their faces.
and..
“There’s so much outside money infiltrating Wyoming elections with possibly bad actors connected to it,” Tyrrell said. “Groups like Make Liberty Win and Wyoming Gun Owners are only interested in getting money from their followers and trying to sway elections.
Yes, there was a tractor manufactured by the White Company in the 1980’s. And yes, they called it the American.
During the first week of May, we celebrate Small Business Week. This time of year, the impact that small businesses have in our communities is especially evident. We might notice the Little League team has the name of its local business sponsor on the back of its jerseys. High schoolers might be applying for summer jobs at a restaurant on Main Street. And a little outside of town, we can see planting season is underway on family farms across South Dakota.
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