Legislators are in the ending hours of session, and some are making it known that they will not be back next year.

Democrat State Representative and Minority Leader Erin Healy gave kind parting thoughts about her time in the House, thanking everyone for their service to the state and noting that she will not be back next year.

Quickly following was District 3 Republican State Representative Brandei Schaefbauer, who also noted she will not be back.. which gets people wondering, as she has been rumored to be potentially running out of District 31.. maybe this year, maybe in the future.

Brandei quickly followed by noted she’s voting against the budget. So, after months of negotiation and opportunities for input,  she’s voting against Northern State University, voting against cops, voting against processing rape kits, voting against medical services voting against the elderly..

Not thinking this departure from the House of Representatives is going to be a loss.

This morning in an article from the Dakota Scout, Team Rhoden was pushing back against the Emerson College poll that had him mired in the pack of others running in the race for Governor who aren’t Dusty Johnson.

Rhoden’s people were pushing their own polling claiming they’re only five points down according to their own polling, and not in third place, 11 points down as the Emerson College poll claimed.

Larry Rhoden was within 5 percentage points of Johnson in a poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, down 28 to 33 – within the margin of error. Toby Doeden followed with 16 percent while Jon Hansen had 10 percent.

and..

The pollsters reached different conclusions. The Public Opinion Strategies firm includes Glen Bolger, who has polled South Dakota political races for decades. The firm concluded that Rhoden had a 9-point lead over Johnson in a head-to-head contest, leading 48-39. The governor also led among base GOP voters and those favorable to Trump.

Read that here.

I have not seen the new poll results myself, but there’s little other information presented such as when the poll was conducted, as well as other factors.  It does closely mirror other poll results I have seen – but those were over a month stale now, and the Emerson poll is less than a week old.

The Governor’s poll may claim that he would fare well in a direct head to head.. but it’s not a direct head to head. It’s a 4-way contest at the moment. And there’s a lot of campaigning before there would be any chance of a head to head.

Stay tuned. Much more campaigning and I’m sure there are many more polls to come.

(And as a sidebar, please keep Glen Bolger who has done polling for many South Dakota candidates over the years in your thoughts and prayers, as it’s my understanding that he has taken gravely ill.)

The District 21 Primary is heating up with former State Senator Erin Tobin taking to facebook to call out her Senate primary opponent, end-time army member Mykala Voita for voting against funding for critical access hospitals including the SIX in their mutual district.

“Today the current District 21 Senator who sits on the appropriations committee and who represents SIX critical access hospitals and the thousands of people they serve, voted against funding for critical access hospitals.

This is our livelihood, our families, and our communities.

Vote Erin Tobin for District 21 Senate on June 2nd.”

This race is going to continue to heat up as Senator and religious zealot Voita is going to be brought to task by Erin Tobin who points out things such as how the District needs health care facilities, and how parents may need to give birth in a hospital.. which based on her votes, the current Senator doesn’t seem to support.

Stay tuned.

This afternoon marked a big drop of petitions by the Secretary of State’s office indicating some hot primaries will be brewing out there for the 2026 election.

D2 State Representative David Kull had his petitions approved for the State Senate in his district, setting up a 2, if not three-way primary, with fellow house member John Sjaarda.

As billed earlier, in D3, Aberdeen business leader Katie Washnok‘s petitions were filed today to run against Senator Carl Perry in a rematch of 2024. With Perry having sided with the populist fringe elements of the party over the last several years, we shall see how the 2.0 version of this race goes.

As noted in a post below, State Representative Josephine Garcia was earlier filing paperwork on the financial end, and her petitions were approved today to run for the State Senate against District 5 state Senator Glen Vilhauer.

And what could be one of the marquee primary races, District 13 state Senator Sue Peterson will be challenged by Sioux Falls businessman and consultant Dan Kippley.

In District 16, Beresford businesswoman Lisa Bogue has filed petitions to run for the house, entering a primary with Gubernatorial appointee John Schubeck and candidate Jason VanDenTop.

In District 25, State Representative Les Heinemann has filed, setting up the at least three-way primary in the house between he, Carrie Sanderson, and Bart Sample.

And more primaries are coming. Did I forget anybody? Well there was another one.

Former hard-right State Representative Kaleb Weis wants to jump back in the swamp, and has filed to run in the District 3 House race against Spencer Sommers, Al Novstrup & Tim Hanigan.

What would it mean if Weis came back to Pierre? For starters, whoever is elected as governor might have to think about making the fence around the residence taller. (IYKYK)

Follow the list of who is running on this website by clicking here.

Hot off the press! President Donald Trump has endorsed congressional candidate and Attorney General Marty Jackley to serve as South Dakota’s next congressman.

Frankenstein appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. 

Sara is a trial lawyer at Gunderson, Palmer, Nelson & Ashmore, LLP Law Firm in Rapid City, South Dakota.  Sara earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of South Dakota and her Juris Doctor from the University of South Dakota School of Law.  She served as law clerk to the Honorable Richard H. Battey, U.S. District Court, District of South Dakota in 2001 and 2002.

Sara practices in the areas of election law, employment law, civil rights, trust litigation, commercial litigation, insurance defense, and governmental affairs, including county, municipal, school, and administrative law. Sara serves as city attorney and special counsel for cities and counties across South Dakota.  She also advises and defends hundreds of cities and counties in litigation and prelitigation. Sara trains and advises all 64 county election administrators in the State of South Dakota through all aspects of state and federal election law and does the same for most of the towns and cities throughout the state and beyond.

Sara has twice testified before Congress on the issue of voting rights. She served as special counsel to the South Dakota House of Representatives for the impeachment of South Dakota’s former Attorney General and advises legislators on election and governmental law. She has successfully argued Voting Rights Act cases before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals en banc (all 11 judges), and successfully briefed a Voting Rights Act case to the United States Supreme Court on a petition for writ of certiorari.

Sara has been selected as a Super Lawyer from 2016 through 2025 in the areas of Legislative and Governmental Affairs. Sara was appointed as one of five directors to the Center for Election Confidence national board, serving along with four nationally known election lawyers across the country.

Previously, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights appointed Sara to a four-year term on the South Dakota Advisory Committee, where she was elected Vice Chair. Sara was asked to present the committee’s report to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on behalf of the statewide committee.

Sara has twice served as a speaker at the Republican National Lawyers Association Election Law Conference.  Sara presented at the 2020 Law Symposium for the University of South Dakota Knudson School of Law on election law, among speakers from throughout the country. Sara frequently presents training to governmental officials regarding election and voting rights law and governmental employment law.

For information about the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, visit https://www.usccr.gov.

Here’s something that slipped in under the radar last week.

The awful State Representative Josephine Garcia of District 5, who caused a sh*t-show in House Education Committee this session over where she was supposed to sit, is apparently not running for a State House seat. And instead, according to the Secretary of State has filed paperwork to run for the State Senate:

Interesting that Garcia’s campaign treasurer is Levi Taglioli from Spearfish. There’s no one in Watertown who would take that on?

Garcia would be challenging current State Senator – and the good guy in this political theater – Glen Vilhauer for the seat.  What’s the answer to the Garcia’s shift in offices?  Make your checks out to:

Glen Vilhauer for SD Senate
PO Box 1091
Watertown, SD 57201

Or you can donate online at https://www.glenforsdsenate.com/donate

Emerson College was just in the field conducting polling in the South Dakota Governor’s race this past weekend, and came up with some unexpected results, showing that while Congressman Dusty Johnson maintains the lead in the contest, the down-field candidates are shifting on the board, and it remains anyone’s race:

An Emerson College Polling/Nexstar Media survey released on Wednesday showed Johnson in first place with 28 percent, with businessman Toby Doeden with 18 percent, Gov. Larry Rhoden at 17 percent and state Rep. Jon Hansen (R) at 14 percent. A separate 23 percent said they were undecided.

The poll also found that the economy was seen as the top issue facing the state at 35 percent, followed by threats to democracy and housing affordability at 13 percent each, education at 11 percent and health care at 9 percent.

“Incumbent Governor Larry Rhoden, who came into office after Kristi Noem was appointed to the Trump administration, faces a difficult election campaign as Rep. Dusty Johnson has garnered plurality support ahead of the June primary,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, noted in a press release.

Read the entire story here on The Hill.

This is interesting that voters had shifted that hard away from Governor Rhoden, who while reaping the benefit of being the chief executive during session.. he’s been mired down in Pierre during session. And his legislative initiatives have met with some success, but not complete victories.

In polling in the last 30 days from more politically geared pollsters, there were fewer undecideds, and Rhoden enjoyed a wider lead from Doeden, up to around 8 points. But in this informal touchpoint, they have him within the margin of error from the car salesman from Aberdeen.

Of course, Dusty has led all polls at least 10 points or so up from the next candidate.  And in both recent tests, Hansen hovered at the bottom of the spectrum, garnering 10% in the prior poll, and jumping up to 14% in this one.

In this and the other poll I’ve seen, there are big undecideds still in the race. Which means the winds could blow differently at the time of the next test of the waters.

The Dusty Johnson for Governor team is on Facebook in a new ad, advertising for campaign interns to work with the campaign to get hands-on experience on the process of running for office.

If you’re in high school or college, and want to find out the real story on politics, there’s no better experience than working on the campaign trail.

(And speaking as a parent who has had kids volunteer for his campaign team, Team Dusty has always done a good job of making it a positive experience, and watching out for them.)

Reach out to the campaign at dustyjohnson.com if you know of a young person who might be interested.

Thune: Senate Bill Paves the Way to More Affordable Housing

“[T]he 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act takes aim at unnecessary regulation by removing, streamlining, or updating regulations that act as a drag on the supply of affordable housing.”

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:

Click here to watch the video.