South Dakota Searchlight has an article on the “No Kings” rally that took place in Sioux Falls yesterday, as well as the counter protest in support of President Trump. And it seems there was a bit of a difference in the numbers of people who attended:

About 3,500 people gathered in downtown Sioux Falls on Saturday for the latest No Kings protest — making it the city’s largest protest so far this year, according to organizer crowd estimates.

The protest was the 13th in South Dakota for the day, organizer Craig Brown with Indivisible 605 said. Protesters gathered to listen to speakers, display homemade signs and chant “this is what democracy looks like” and “we love America; that’s why we’re here,” and call for President Donald Trump “to go.”

and..

A counter protest, dubbed the Real American Rally, was held during the same time a block away from the No Kings protest. It drew about 30 people.

John Small, an organizer of the counter protest, said the gathering was intended to be positive and show “love for the country we live in.”

Read the entire story here.

If this isn’t an indication that the mid-term elections are going to be tough, I don’t know what is.

And this is why I harp on the faction of populists who have driven the Republican Party into shambles and such stupidity as the 32-year Democrat who pretends to chair the party declaring he want to weed the RINO’s out.

Mid-term elections are traditionally challenging for the party in charge of the White House, and our opponents are motivated while the Republican Party struggles to raise a dime.  And with the leadership we have declaring war on the people working for the future of the state, and promoting new taxes, the handwriting is on the wall that Republican candidates are going to face rough seas in 2026.

Governor Larry Rhoden’s Director of Communications Ian Fury has some pointed words for gubernatorial wannabe Jon Hansen:

Either @SpeakerHansen is uninformed about how economic development works, or he’s knowingly lying. Neither is a good look for a gubernatorial candidate.

To-date, Gevo has received ZERO dollars and ZERO cents from @sdgoed. https://t.co/dvAYKrZ93u

— Ian Fury (@IanTFury) October 18, 2025

Thune Joins The Briefing with Steve Scully

 “[T]he Democrats are under an enormous amount of pressure from their hard left, and they’ve got this big rally in town this weekend, and, you know, they’re just demanding that they fight, no matter what the issue is”

Click here to listen to The Briefing with Steve Scully

 WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined The Briefing with Steve Scully on SiriusXM radio.

Draft Explanation Released For Proposed 2026 Initiated Constitutional Amendment to Repeal Property Taxes

PIERRE, S.D. – At the request of the sponsor, an explanation for a proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment that would repeal property taxes in South Dakota and replace them with a “retail transaction” tax, which would be on the 2026 general election ballot if approved, has been submitted for public review by the South Dakota Attorney General’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 on the initiated Constitutional Amendment to help assist the voters as required by state law. The sponsor of the proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment is Abolish Property Taxes SD, a Statewide Ballot Question Committee formed by Julie Frye-Mueller, Matt Smith, and Mike Mueller.

This proposed initiated Constitutional Amendment repeals South Dakota’s property tax scheme set forth in the Constitution and replaces it with a tax “on each retail transaction.”  For each “retail transaction” of $15 or more, a flat tax of $1.50 is assessed.  For each “retail transaction” less than $15, a 10% tax is assessed.

The ballot explanation can be found here.

Octo 17 2025 Ballot Measure Retail Transaction Tax by Pat Powers

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 October 17, 2025, and the deadline for comments on this explanation is October 27, 2025 at the close of business in Pierre, South Dakota. The final explanation is due to the Secretary of State on November 5, 2025.

The initiated Constitutional Amendment would require 35,017 valid petition signatures to qualify for the 2026 general election ballot.

To file written comments regarding the language, not the merits on the proposed draft Attorney General’s explanation, please use one of the following methods below. Copies of all received comments 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 October 27, 2025.

Comments may also be emailed to ATGballotcomments@state.sd.us by October 27, 2025. 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.

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From facebook comes a Toby Doeden related musical interlude (Not Safe for Work, especially if you enable sound) straight from Aberdeen:

Why Won’t Democrats Take “Yes” for an Answer?
By Sen. John Thune

Three weeks into a government shutdown, Democrats are dug in. Their price for reopening the government is $1.5 trillion in partisan spending. It’s a list of so many far-left priorities, one of my Senate colleagues says you need a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. And despite all of the suffering their shutdown strategy has caused, Democrats continue to insist on this costly ransom.

Not even the prospect of military families going without a paycheck was enough for Democrats to relent and reopen the government. We’re reading stories about military families lining up at food banks and needy families uncertain about nutrition assistance. There are Americans who can’t close on a new home because they can’t get flood insurance, and thousands of flights have been delayed because of staffing shortages. But one Democrat senator says, “[for] Democrats, it’s so far, so good.”

Republicans have offered Democrats in the Senate numerous chances to reopen the government. We’ve called up a clean, nonpartisan funding extension day after day – legislation that could reopen the government in a matter of hours with just a handful more Democrat votes. Senate Democrats also had a chance to advance a bipartisan, full-year defense funding bill, so we can at least make some progress toward securing paychecks for our troops and supporting our national security while Democrats continue to vote against reopening the entire government. But they rejected that as well.

Democrats defend their funding blockade by complaining that Republicans won’t negotiate with them. Negotiation happens when you have two sides each with its own demands, but Republicans have no demands. We’ve offered Democrats multiple chances to fund the government, and we’ve offered to have discussions and even hold votes on the issues they have raised after the government is open again. But Democrats insist that we satisfy their $1.5 trillion in partisan demands.

While hardworking Americans have suffered through this weeks-long shutdown, Democrats seem to be basking in the praise from their far-left base. Our economy is losing billions of dollars, government programs are in jeopardy, and federal workers are working without pay, but it seems that Democrats are fine with having Americans living in uncertainty so long as Democrats’ far-left base is satisfied.

It’s hard to believe that Democrats have spent the month of October putting the demands of far-left activists ahead of the American people, ahead of American troops and military families. Enough is enough. We need five more Democrats to support the clean funding extension. Then it can go to the White House, be signed into law, and all this needless suffering can come to an end. But I guess Democrats aren’t ready for that yet.

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Day 17 of the Government Shutdown
By Rep. Dusty Johnson
October 17, 2025 

BIG Update

Another week of the government shutdown has come and gone. This shutdown should never have happened and it’s even more ridiculous every day it continues. I voted to keep the government open a month ago, and yet some in the Senate are preventing federal employees from being paid and cutting off important services for the American people.

I want to be clear about the counterproposal to the bipartisan funding package we already passed out of the House. The counterproposal includes $1.5 trillion in new spending while repealing the $50 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Program. These are not negotiations to have while the government remains shuttered.

BIG Idea

It was recently discovered that some states, South Dakota included, have been issuing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) to visa holders in the U.S. that expire beyond the expiration date of their visa. I’m concerned that allowing these licenses to extend past an individual’s legal stay in America could endanger others on our roads and give an individual a government-issued identification that they should not have. The Trump Administration has been leading policy initiatives to correct this error and I’m working on legislation to ensure states are following federal law and strengthen federal requirements to keep our roads safe.

I recently co-sponsored the Non-Domiciled CDL Integrity Act to make sure the Trump Administration’s CDL policies are the permanent law of the land. This bill makes sure states verify the lawful immigration status for the license holder and requires the expiration date of the CDL license to be limited to one year or the expiration date of the visa, whichever is shorter. This legislation will ensure states keep roads safe.

Click here or the image above to read more.

BIG News

Yesterday, I hosted a tele-town hall with more than 12,000 South Dakotans to hear their concerns and talk about the government shutdown. I’ve held dozens of these town halls over the years to hear directly from constituents from across the state. I took questions from across the political spectrum about a variety of topics, like the government shutdown, health care, and the need to support our farmers and ranchers. I really enjoy hopping on the phone and talking to engaged constituents.

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Gov. Rhoden Honors 89th Attack Squadron’s Success in Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Larry Rhoden honored the 89th Attack Squadron “Marauders,” stationed at Ellsworth Airforce Base, for their involvement in President Trump’s successful Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER – the United States strike on Iranian nuclear sites that ended the 12-Day War.

“The 89th Attack Squadron demonstrated heroic service and sacrifice in defense of America and our freedoms. Until today, they were quite literally ‘unsung heroes,’ but their courage will never be forgotten,” said Governor Larry Rhoden. “I encourage all South Dakotans to recognize, support, and celebrate the achievements and sacrifice of these outstanding service members.”

The Squadron’s execution of 177 hours of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance operations provided vital strategic advantages in protecting American lives and interests. They delivered dynamic targeting data and threat assessments that safeguarded over 17,000 U.S. forces and enabled the President of the United States to maintain credible offensive strike options.

Governor Rhoden honored the troops at a recognition ceremony at Ellsworth Air Force Base and proclaimed today “89th Attack Squadron Appreciation Day.” You can find the proclamation here.

For the safety of all those involved, today was the first day the Governor could publicly acknowledge the 89th Attack Squadron’s involvement in this operation.

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Why does it seem that Indy candidate and former Dem against Thune Brian Bengs is cutting the amount that the Democrat candidate should be raising in half?

Bengs_Oct2025FEC by Pat Powers

Bengs is reporting $76,628.11 raised against $65,532.75 spent – again, a high burn rate – leaving him $29,710.42 to take on an incumbent US Senator.

And he’s raising chunks of this cash using Democrat Party fundraising platform ActBlue, and he’s using Dem software vendor NGP VAN. I think if I was Julian Beaudion, I might be frosted a bit, since he’s in the running to be the Democrat party’s candidate, and Bengs is an opponent.

Bengs has the same problem as Julian, that unless something changes quickly, 2025 could be the campaign’s high point as they both slide into a cash-starved 2026.

Or maybe, cash is ok, but it’s split between two candidates who are both running for the favor of the left.

The Democrat offering for US Senate against incumbent Senator Mike Rounds filed his FEC Report this week. And while it wasn’t embarassing, it’s not keeping up the pace that he’s going to need to be a serious challenger to Senator Rounds.

Julian Oct2025FEC by Pat Powers

Julian for US Senate posted $60,897.94 raised against a tremendous burn of cash, totaling $73,041.82, completely wiping away his take for the quarter and eating into the previous cash on hand, leaving him with $31,081.06. Not the trend he needs to be showing going into the doldrums of year-end fundraising.  He needs to be accruing as much as he can, and that doesn’t seem to be happening.

We’ll keep monitoring, but unless something changes quickly, 2025 could be the campaign’s high point as they slide into a cash-starved 2026.