This is big news in the South Dakota political world.

Much like Ronald Reagan decided the Democrat party wasn’t for him anymore, and changed to GOP,  Former Public Utilities Commissioner Steve Kolbeck of Brandon, SD is now a registered Republican, and has filed paperwork to run for District 2 State Senate.

Kolbeck was chairman of the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission during his tenure there, and was first elected in 2006 and served to 2011.

When an official release or more information comes out, you’ll be able to read more about it here.

But, I can tell you that I always found Steve to be a pretty good guy.

Kolbeck will be in a primary election for that District 2 Senate seat, and is slated to run against Spencer Wrightsman, Treasurer of the Minnehaha County Republicans and national committeeman for the South Dakota Young Republicans (another good guy).

By my reckoning, this marks about the 9th State Senate primary to date (plus around 15 in the House so far), which tells you how active a year it’s going to be.

Update – I am informed that Steve has not been a Dem since leaving the PUC (which was more than a decade ago).

Gov. Noem Issues Statement on Heartbeat Bill

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, South Dakota legislators took unprecedented action to deny introduction of Governor Noem’s legislation to protect all unborn life once a heartbeat can be detected. Governor Noem issued the following statement:

“Every single life is precious and deserving of our protection – but apparently South Dakota legislators think otherwise. It grieves me that they would take this unprecedented action at this time based on the advice of one out-of-state lawyer. National pro-life leaders believe that now is the time to have this sort of protection in law to save lives.

“The United States Supreme Court has allowed the Texas Heartbeat Act to go forward three times, and this legislation has essentially ended abortions in Texas. My focus is on ensuring that we are protecting as many South Dakota lives as possible.

“The South Dakota state legislature has always guaranteed that every bill gets a hearing, and that is something that I’ve always loved about our process. We have rules and an open process, and we play by those rules. To our knowledge, this is the first time in decades that a bill has been denied a hearing.

“South Dakota deserved to have a hearing on a bill to protect the heartbeats of unborn children. We can hear heartbeats at six weeks, but I’m disappointed this bill was not granted even one hearing.”

You can read the proposed heartbeat legislation here.

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Word has gotten back to me this evening that there’s a Republican Candidate running for District 27 State Senate.

The good news? The seat currently held by Red Dawn Foster might be thought of as one of the GOP tougher areas to recruit in, as it’s Bennett, Jackson, Pennington, & Oglala Lakota county in it’s new configuration, so it was a good thing to hear that there’s a candidate circulating petitions.

The bad news? The candidate circulating petitions for the seat is Florence Thompson.

The same Florence Thompson who says pre-schools are recruiting kids for the LGBT lifestyle, and accused Rapid City Schools of brainwashing students and adopting programs that encourage students to “riot, attack government buildings, destroy property and destroy society.”  Yeah. Flossie rides again.

Maybe the GOP can find a good candidate.

The website for Jamie Smith for Governor is up at www.smithforgov.org, where the Democrat’s candidate for Governor has posted an intro video for his campaign:

I did find it interesting today where he said he would not support an income tax among other statement this morning:

I get the distinct impression that Smith is going to deliberately avoid talking about some of the issues that highlight and define the differences between Republicans and Democrats in this state, and is going to portray himself as much of a vanilla Democrat as possible.

From the Senate GOP:

We’re just going to leave this right here. pic.twitter.com/nJ71MI6VkK

— Joni Ernst (@SenJoniErnst) January 31, 2022

Thune: Biden’s Crisis-Ridden First Year  

“The president has not only failed to unite the country, but, as his ugly and divisive speech in Georgia made clear, he has come to regard anyone who opposes his policies with active hostility – and contempt.”

Click here or on the picture above to watch the video. 

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today discussed President Biden’s crisis-ridden first year in the White House. Thune noted that the president has completely abandoned the promise of unity he made in his inaugural address and has failed to address multiple ongoing crises that are negatively affecting families across South Dakota.

Statement from GOP Chair Dan Lederman on Democrat Jamie Smith announcement for Governor

“Jamie Smith’s candidacy for governor is a stark reminder of what could have been if Democrats were in power during the pandemic: jobs lost, businesses closed, classrooms empty, and parents silenced as their children suffered. Thanks to Governor Kristi Noem, our economy thrived and led the nation, we welcomed businesses to open their doors, we kept kids in the classroom, and stayed true to our motto that under God, the people rule.”

“This November, South Dakotans will choose to move forward, not back.”

Statement from Kristi for Governor Campaign Manager Joe Desilets on Democrat Jamie Smith’s Campaign Announcement

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

“Jamie’s voting record and values don’t align with the people of South Dakota. He has an F rating with the NRA, supports abortion on demand, government mandates, and marched with BLM. He is an extreme liberal whose policies have been rejected by South Dakotans for decades.”

Press Contact – Joe Desilets, Campaign Manager

House Minority Leader Jamie Smith, a realtor and former educator from Sioux Falls, is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor pic.twitter.com/lEUBB5PC61

— Joe Sneve (@Argus_Joe) February 1, 2022

Looks like they’re in the midst of their rebranding effort for Jamie Smith, with a House of Representatives logo, but a title that he’s running for Gov.

But that’s ok. It gives Republicans a tangible opponent, as opposed to looking inward to fight against something as they have the last few years.