Lance Russell’s new best friend might be South Dakota Democrat Party Chair Shane Merrill. Or Julian Beaudion, depending on how you look at it. Because a lot just happened with the State Democrat Party.
South Dakota Democrats have withdrawn their threatened re-convention where they were said to be planning to nominate an opponent to Russell, the Republican nominee for the office of Attorney General. And as of this afternoon, with Democrats hitting the stop button on their planned re-convention, the path for Russell to be the next AG seems to be a wide open highway for the long time Fall River/Oglala County State’s Attorney.
It might have hinged on whether they could find a Democrat who wanted the office. But with Beaudion withdrawing his candidacy for US Senate, did Democrats take a pause because there were those who may have wanted to replace the fresh Julian vacancy on the ballot as well? That question came up in my mind, as there are plenty of Democrats who think Bengs leans more Libertarian than Democrat.
I had also heard that there were those gearing up for a lawsuit should they be allowed to re-convention.
With this momentary drama over, the ambiguity in state law that Democrats thought gave them a loophole to try again should now give legislators pause to seek clarity in the state laws surrounding convention.
Or they could do away with the convention nomination process altogether. That might work as well.
Either way, there should be no more ambiguity with who is running in 2026. So, it’s go time.
No SDDP for AG. That is pathetic with who the SDGOP has nominated.
No more convention nominations! Let the people decide.