I heard both privately, and as noted in the Dakota Scout this evening that State Auditor candidate Dave Barranco has been diagnosed with and treating for cancer in recent weeks:

“I have undergone another battery of tests, and the results are beyond dispute: I have cancer,” the 53-year-old attorney-turned-elected official said, opening up about a months long health battle that recently worsened.

and..

He is the only declared GOP candidate ahead of next month’s South Dakota Republican Party convention in Rapid City. His term on the council is set to expire in July.

When asked what the diagnosis means for his candidacy, Barranco indicated that discussions are ongoing with his medical care team, family and inner circle.

Read the entire story here.

Please keep David and his family in your prayers as they work for David’s recovery.

Bringing up the rear, gubernatorial wannabe Jon Hansen underlines that despite all the extra time he had to raise money being the first one in the race, he just could not get shifted out of the “legislative” gear on his campaign camper.

Jon Hansen Pre Primary by Pat Powers

Raising $355,300.70 in the last months, with 1/4 of that coming from pro-hansen political action committees (that we’re still waiting to see), Hansen spent $245,276.02, leaving him $163,918.65 for the last two weeks of the campaign.

And sorry, but I’m not sure this would make the grade in a congressional race anymore. I don’t think one could get over the hump in an attorney general race in the fall with this.

Stick a fork in this last place fundraising finish. I think you can retire this retriever, because he’s done hunting.

Governor Larry Rhoden has filed his pre-primary report in the few days left until the primary election. And while it’s nothing to sneeze at, it shows that his campaign could have benefitted by an earlier campaign kickoff:

Larry Rhoden Pre-Primary by Pat Powers

Mustering his other affiliated committees kicking in $159k from his DC PAC (Free American Fund), and the Strong Safe and Free PAC passing along another $114k, Governor Rhoden added another $571,853.09 to his existing total of $511,815 to enable him to spend $914,052.53 on the primary, leaving $169,616,49 for the last 2 weeks of the election.

But compared to Toby Doeden blowing millions from his own pocket, as well as the millions that Dusty Johnson has been able to accumulate over the years, Governor Rhoden’s campaign is quickly running out of cash when at least two of his other opponents can open up the spigot even further.

That poses a problem for our state’s chief executive going into the last weeks of the campaign.  If he had announced earlier, and raised more cash, this might have been a different race.  But with 2 weeks to go, $170k in the bank might put him at a disadvantage.

Keep watching the airwaves. We’re almost to the finish line.

The South Dakota Republican Party has filed their pre-primary report with the Secretary of State. And while there’a glimmer of hope for convention happening, their raffle fundraiser seems to be a bit of a bust.

First, the report:

2026SDGOP_PrePrimary by Pat Powers

$1670.87 in unitemized donations, and $1450 in itemized. $3120.87.   As a political party, when that’s what your donations have been over the last 6 months… that’s not good. And wasn’t the chairman talking about how they were supposed to get $50k from the RNC?  Looks like they got $17,500.

Here’s where the outlook gets especially dreary..

It appears they’re reporting 30k raised from convention registration.. all of which are likely to go back out in convention expenses in the next report.   But check out what they raised (or didn’t raise) from the raffle fundraiser that was supposed to generate significant funds. $15,812.  That’s…. well that what one so-so fundraiser would bring in.. but there are no more fundraisers besides that one.   Party fundraising typically is an ongoing process. Not “1 and done.”‘

It looks like they added $54k to the $70k they had in the bank. Which in an election year isn’t really that much.  Especially when you consider that that only raised $20 in the federal account for this month’s report.

I’m not sure that what they raised will get them through the convention, much less this fall’s election.

The PAC report for House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach has now been filed, and it shows that he and relatives, and like-minded allies have dumped over $50,000 into moving the South Dakota legislature even further right than it already is, as Odenbach hands out money largely $1000 at a time.

Including $10,000 he’s put in to unseat his fellow District 31 legislator, Senator Randy Deibert.

You can read the report here yourself:

Liberty Tree Pac by Pat Powers

Plus an additional report filed today..

The list of recipients reads as a “who’s who” of the hard right on the ballot this year, both incumbents and candidates.. including those who have some serious flaws in representing South Dakotans:

First off the list is the committee for John Teupel, whose candidacy is very, very seriously flawed as I’ve noted in the past,

Legislators didn’t like talking about the measure at all on the floor because of the topic dealing with some of the worst sexual deviants, but Representative Teupel got up and gave his speech. While he claimed he “wasn’t rising in opposition of the bill,” he did have a very detailed three point notation of his “concerns.” #1, “With a class 6 felony, they usually have an identified victim of the crime.”  #2 “With the prosecution of a crime like this,  there’s not really a plaintiff you can put on a witness stand.”  And there was also concern #3..

 

 

Concern #3 was the concern that kids who were “sexually experimenting” would be caught in something like this as a young age, and be labeled permanently as a sex offender, when it might have “been a phase that they would have outgrown.”

Teupel went on declare that he’s not “opposed to the measure” but “has concerns about the legislation.”  And despite his concerns, he actually was an opponent, and went on to be one of the votes against making bestiality a crime.

Read that here.

Sorry. But when as a candidate your record includes advocacy against making horse rape a felony, .. hard nope on returning John to the legislature.   Yet, supporting a brand of Muskrat Love we don’t write songs about was worth $10,000 of PAC funding from Scott.

Same for legislative candidate and convicted felon Amber Werdel.. Sorry, former convicted felon, since the pardon and all…

She gets $1000 from the Liberty Tree PAC.

Seriously? We need more felons in Pierre? Yet, this is who Scott wants to add to the roster of the South Dakota House of Representatives.

This years’ legislative primaries do offer some choices to make when people hit the voting booth. And despite what the House Majority Leader wants, people may need to take a harder look at some of those who legislative leadership wants.

If only I had a million dollars....  Well, I can guarantee you I wouldn’t be throwing it away on running for South Dakota Governor to feed my ego like Toby Doeden is.

Because in the latest campaign finance report filed today, Toby disclosed that he’s thrown another $2 million dollars on the bonfire of his vanities as he pursues trying to pretend he’s capable of being in charge of the state:

Toby Doeden Pre-primary Report by Pat Powers

This comes at the same time as from all of his supporters all across the state, he’s only managed to raise $10,856.56.

I haven’t seen the other reports yet, but I feel pretty safe if I wagered that’s going to be even worse than Jon Hansen’s fundraising total.

But I suppose you don’t need people to support you when you feel you can just buy the job.

This is an interesting item in District 9 Primary Candidate Megan Tschetter’s campaign finance report:

No, not the $1000 from Majority Leader Scott Odenbach and his Liberty Tree PAC, as he tries to pick his membership.. But the $250 from the Davison County Republicans Central Committee. They absolutely should not be playing in primaries.

That’s what the former 32-year Democrat in charge of the Republican Party said. (not that he follows his own rule):

“not appropriate for the party to influence the election process.”  I would certainly think that would include donating to candidates.

UPDATE: 

Here’s another instance where they donated $250 to a candidate in the primary – Tim Begalka, running in a contested primary in District 4 – a district no where near their own..

Gov. Rhoden Announces Expansion and Results of ICE Partnerships

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden announced that the Rhoden Administration is expanding on its partnerships with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of the public safety efforts announced last July.

“My administration’s number one responsibility is keeping South Dakotans safe,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “We’ve been working hard to get illegal alien criminals off our streets, out of our prison, and out of our country. I am proud of the results our officers have delivered – they are keeping our state strong, safe, and free for generations to come – and now there’s more work to do.”

The South Dakota Highway Patrol has enrolled more troopers in ICE training, increasing the number of troopers trained under 287(g) agreements eight-fold. Originally, five troopers were trained in July 2025, and 17 troopers are currently trained. With this third addition in force, that number will increase to 41 troopers.

“This partnership is showing strong results” said Secretary of Public Safety Bob Perry. “In the last twelve months the SD Highway Patrol has conducted 150 arrests of illegal alien criminals.”

The expansion is also supported by the Department of Homeland Security. South Dakota is anticipating a federal reimbursement of approximately $165,000.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) and the South Dakota National Guard (SDNG) have continued to work with ICE as part of two other components of this state-federal partnership.

DOC submitted additional inmates for parole to federal custody and deportation. So far, 24 inmates have been paroled directly to ICE custody. DOC and ICE have identified an additional 14 inmates that will be considered for federal custody and deportation. Getting removable illegal aliens out of the state prison system saves South Dakota taxpayers an average of $34,039.33 in annual cost per inmate. DOC is also implementing enhanced training of officers to serve warrants and assist ICE with deportations.

The SDNG deployment of seven guardsmen has continued since last fall. These active-duty soldiers in Sioux Falls and Rapid City are helping process deportations, acting as a force multiplier for South Dakota ICE officers. Through May 15, the SDNG has assisted directly in processing 664 illegal immigrants who have been deported out of South Dakota.

Governor Rhoden previously activated the SDNG and sent letters of intent to establish the 287(g) agreements. You can find the DOC letter here and the SDHP letter here.

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You saw the report from the Dusty Johnson for Governor committee – now here’s the Political Action Committee supporting the campaign. Who happens to have over a million in the account:

Dusty PAC Disclosure by Pat Powers

Dusty Johnson has raised a lot of money, and spent a lot of money. And he still has cash reserves to go in his campaign to become the next South Dakota Governor:

Dusty Johnson State Report by Pat Powers