South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has a new campaign commercial out, declaring that the best for South Dakota is yet to come, and “This is our moment:”

Here’s Taffy Howard’s last hurrah, before Dusty Johnson handily defeats her in the primary.

TaffyHoward_PreprimaryFEC by Pat Powers on Scribd

Howard raised an ok $78,260.00. Not great, but not embarrassingly low, as some of her totals have been. But, it’s probably too little, too late.   Against this, she spent $100,671.91, leaving her $132,303.06 for possibly a mailing, and a little tv. Maybe.

But ultimately, it’s over, as she has been outmatched and outclassed for the entire campaign. She might be running a race that would work for constitutional office, but not Congress.

Dusty Johnson is coming into the homestretch, with his final major FEC filing before the primary election:

DustyJohnson_PreprimaryFEC by Pat Powers on Scribd

In his main campaign account, Dusty raised $205.466.69, against which he spent $36,468.54, leaving him with $2,528,130.63 to spend in the last 2 weeks of the campaign.

Gubernatorial aspirant Steve Haugaard is apparently complaining to the media that Governor Kristi Noem won’t engage him, despite the fact he’s been kind of a jerk to her at times.  According to KELOland:

She has refused so far to engage her Republican primary opponent, former House Speaker Steve Haugaard, on any kind of public platform, aside from appearing at private county Republican dinners.

That’s left Haugaard frustrated with time running short before the June 7 primary. A recent poll of self-identified Republicans by South Dakota State University faculty showed Noem leading Haugaard 61-17%.

Read that here.

I think that last point might be the big indicator. Noem leading Haugaard 61-17%.

The point might be made..

Was that the wind, or the sound of Steve Haugaard complaining about Noem ignoring him?

When other politicians bickered & fought, I delivered results. Less yelling, more doing. pic.twitter.com/QgCVJ4nLSy

— Dusty Johnson for Congress (@DustyJohnson) May 25, 2022

Good Dusty Johnson commercial has been posted out there.

No report on where Taffy’s commercial is.

Just had this website dakotatruth.com pop up in a feed somewhere, and it might be the most poorly done thing I’ve seen come out of the Haugaard campaign to date.  And that says a lot.

It has the Haugaard campaign logo in the header, and the bottom of the first page says “paid for by Haugaard for Governor,” so we’ll take them at their word.

They do let us know that it was the legislature that saved us all, so there’s that.

“And It is only the legislature in Pierre that saved the state.”

Guys, Iove and admire most of you who are serving in the legislature. But give me a break.  I don’t think most of the people in the legislature believe this.  And then there’s this declaration from this campaign, as they tell us what they need.

Or as the campaign notes.. “we need a governer who is unwavering.”

Well, Steve can run for governer, but I don’t think that’s on the ballot. (I’m not even going to go into their version of leftist.)

They probably need to pull this website down before they are subjected to any more mocking than they receive already. If that’s possible.

 

About fell over when I read this week’s shopper paper. I finally saw an advertisement for District 7 Senate candidate Julie Erickson.

From the ad, I get the impression that her focus is on homeschooling and private schools, and public schools are a begrudging addition.

Kind of like being Republican. Nevermind the fact she’s running as a Republican Candidate in a Republican Primary.. and it’s not mentioned anywhere.  It’s not just her. I’ve got to scold all the candidates advertising in the shopper paper today. They might call themselves a lot of things, but no one is using Republican in their ads. (Boo!)

That might be why people don’t look to shopper papers on determining who to vote for.

Regardless, if this is it from Julie Erickson, I’m not exactly giving her much for odds against current State Representative and former Mayor Tim Reed.  Just a little name identification disparity.

Legislative District 3 in Aberdeen has become ground zero for this years’ primary elections, as newcomer and Aberdeen Home Builders Executive Director Rachel Dix has reportedly caught the wind in a way that we haven’t seen since..  Well, since newcomer Erin Tobin shellacked House Majority Leader Lee Qualm in the 2020 Primary election.

Dix seems to have strong momentum going into the last two weeks, and it was nowhere more evident when we saw this postcard from Dix, picturing her with Governor Kristi Noem alongside in a show of support for Dix from the most popular Republican among Republican voters in South Dakota.

It also shows in the campaign finance reports between the two candidates:

Al Novstrup Sdcfdisclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

While Al posted about $1800 in contributions, a $1000 loan to himself, and $3250 in PAC money, Rachel Dix posted numbers showing financial support dwarfing the incumbent:

Rachel Dix Sdcfdisclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

Dix came in with a MASSIVE 10-1 advantage in individual contributions of over $18,000, and similar to Al, $2300 in PAC funds.

Word is that the momentum is continuing to build for Dix, and anecdotes are popping up that Al might be feeling some heat.

As opposed to being more independent, in the last several elections Novstrup has allied himself closely with his running mates, Carl Perry and Kaleb Weis (and before the change-over in District with Drew Dennert) in more of a team approach to campaigning. This approach, while it made campaigning cheaper at the time, did not do him any good in the long run as it melded him with the pack, transferring their negatives to him by association and really removing his individuality.

Because, really.. is Carl Perry viewed by his constituents as a distinctive leader in the House? Probably not.  Kaleb Weis has not been able to pass a single bill in 4 years, and probably has a dimmer view, with people questioning if he eats crayons. Now when Al needs to be his own individual, as one person quipped to me about the current team of District 3 legislators, the comment was that when you look at the group of them, your impression is that they’re pale, stale, and male.  Ouch.

Dix might be a newcomer to politics, but as her opponent has focused on building his Thunder Road business in Sioux Falls (which is a great facility, BTW), Dix has been working in the community and volunteering with organizations in Aberdeen.  Arguably, she’s a more active and visible day to day presence in Aberdeen, which shows with her tremendous fundraising prowess.

Keep an eye on this race as the hours tick down. This will be the one to watch as there’s the potential for a long-time incumbent to be out hustled by an up and coming fresh face.

You almost have sympathy. Almost, until you realize it was all self-inflicted, and he was drinking the kool-aid of the anti-Thune nuts.

MarkMowry_preprimaryFEC by Pat Powers on Scribd

Mark Mowry raised $4265, against which he spent $6895.13. Which doesn’t seem very fiscally responsible.

He left himself with $1485.90, and $15,000 in debt.

Well, I could have told him how this was going to come out.

In the last few weeks, State Representative Kevin Jensen filed a fairly new political action committee called “Keep South Dakota Red,” with the mission of “Assist candidates supporting the Republican party platform.”  That’s all well and good, despite the platform being a fluid document that can change at any time.

And today their filing was put up, which shows how much Jensen’s political action committee wants to be a political player:

Keep SD Red Disclosure by Pat Powers on Scribd

The Political Action Committee noted donations to a number of candidates, including Schoenbeck Senate opponent Colin Paulsen, Gubernatorial wannabe Steve Haugaard, and Doug Post for District 7.

So, who is backing this true red political action group?  Well, just 3 entities. And, it might be three entities, but two are directly connected to one person.

Bill Metz of Dakota Dunes donated 5k, Pederson Ag, and Homestead Harvest each donated 10k.  While Pederson Ag and Homestead Harvest are individual entities, they both share one person as registered agent – Karla Lems.

You’ve got to have a lot of cash into your businesses to spread $20K at Kevin Jensen to donate to candidates.

This would be the same Karla Lems who was a founding member of the “Primary John Thune” facebook group that started loudly, but ended up only able to produce Bruce Whalen and Mark Mowry as their champions.  And the same Karla Lems who is currently a candidate running to be a District 16 State Representative alongside the PAC Treasurer, Kevin Jensen.

With Karla Lems showering her fellow candidate Kevin Jensen with cash to spend as he will, it kind of leaves the other D16 House candidate – Richard Vasgaard – the odd man out in that D16 House contest.

It makes for interesting politics.

Stay tuned.