Roll Call on possible contenders for the Noem Congressional seat.

Pat Powers

Washington based Roll Call has an article out this AM as to possible contenders for the Congressional seat being vacated by Congresswoman (And Gubernatorial contender) Kristi Noem in 2018. Who are they hearing could run for the seat?

  • Secretary of State Shantel Krebs, who previously served 10 years in the state legislature.
  • Dusty Johnson, the former chief of staff to Gov. Dennis Daugaard. He left the governor’s office in 2014 to become the director of consulting for Vantage Point Solutions, an engineering and consulting company. He previously headed the Public Utilities Commission, an elected position.
  • Current Public Utilities Commissioner and former Secretary of State Chris Nelson. He was considered the front-runner for the at-large congressional seat six years ago before Noem defeated him in the primary.
  • State Sen. R. Blake Curd, who also ran for the seat in 2010.
  • Former state Sen. Larry Rhoden, who just won a seat in the state House. He ran for the seat junior Sen. Michael Rounds won in 2014 and could throw his hat in the ring for the at-large congressional seat.
  • Former state Rep. Stace Nelson, who was elected to the state Senate this year. He also ran for the U.S. Senate in 2014 and could run for the at-large seat.

Read it all here.

I think they’re on in some places, but off on their calculus in others.  Dusty Johnson and Shantel Krebs are clearly in the hunt, Dusty moreso that Shantel at this point.  But the article omits Senator-elect Neal Tapio who was Trump’s campaign person in SD.

Chris Nelson was just re-elected. But if you look back to his prior congressional effort, I don’t know if he could find a path forward that would give him any greater appeal to state voters in a primary.

I don’t know if Blake Curd would want to take the pay cut, and he’s taken a lot on professionally in the intervening years. He may not be at a point in his life when he can.

Now, Larry Rhoden was noticed working the room hard at a recent event. He might have a potential interest in the race. His handicap is the same one he faced when he placed second in the US Senate, in that East River voters don’t know him.

Any movements of Stace Nelson in the race would probably be a non-starter outside of a small circle of confederates. His third place finish in the US Senate contest underlined that while he has a small circle of fervent workers, he wasn’t able to raise the level of money needed for a statewide contest. And there’s the part about South Dakota’s sitting Senators (Rounds and Thune) who would both probably make a point to get involved in the race to oppose him for Nelson’s attacks on them.

I could go on, but you get the point.

I think we will see others putting out feelers for the congressional contest, but it’s a looong way off.

20 thoughts on “Roll Call on possible contenders for the Noem Congressional seat.”

  1. You were whistling past the graveyard. The governor of South Dakota, you, and a handful of sitting legislators went after NELSON this year. The end result was him getting elected with the largest win margin and a contested election.

    The polling that went out this last week by the top contenders asked specifically about NELSON.

    He would definitely make any race he throws his hat in, very interesting. He made combating corruption a major theme in his campaign, and it obviously resonated.

      1. Obviously his appeal is based on what he says and does. He has all the tangibles. He also has a problem that he becomes very personal with opponents and it turns people off. That said I like him a lot as a person and a friend. If he ran I would respect him and value what he brought to the race.

    2. I suspect Stace is tooting his own horn again.

      Otherwise, unless he’s learned how to raise money, he’s not going to get any farther than he did before.

      1. No kidding. Recordings of his own robo-calls would be his own undoing. After the negativity of 2016 I find it unlikely such vitriol will be stomached by voters.

  2. Bottom line is that Stace Nelson got third place and many people including Dusty Johnson want to remove him from office and have publicly fought Stace tooth and nail through the governors office. There will be zero overlap between the Stace Nelson wing and the Dusty Johnson wing.

    1. I’m sorry I didn’t mean remove him from office once elected I meant not allow him to get reelected.

  4. Chris Nelson said during his campaign for PUC that he had no desire to Congress seat again…you could probably message him and confirm that one.

  6. Goodness, I hope Stace doesn’t run. I could support most of his policy platform, but i could never support his loathsome character.

  9. “quit on the people of South Dakota”

    I get what you mean, but remember, he was *still working* for the people of South Dakota.

  10. Stace Nelson surely is a character and I can see how the leftist branch of the GOP wouldn’t like the big Marine, NCIS agent, and proven conservative.

    Hoping he runs for governor and supports Neal Tapio for Congress.

    2. The only one who talks about Stace like that is Stace. Otherwise you would have included ‘egotistical, thin skinned boob.’

  11. Dusty is the guy. I can’t think of anyone else who could cut through the noise of 435 Representatives and make some good changes. Stace is loud enough, but is too proud to work with anyone.

  13. Rhoden is still a viable option for this position OR now with Mickelson out, maybe Noem’s Lt Gov…he is right in Marty’s back yard, so it doesn’t make sense to have 2 West River guys on the ticket; while he could still support Marty…I don’t know.

    OR Rhoden is one of the few legislators who could run for Governor himself.

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