Statement from Rep. Dusty Johnson
Sioux Falls, S.D. – Today, U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) issued the following statement:
“It has been the honor of my lifetime to represent South Dakota in Congress these past eight years,” said Johnson. “While I am disappointed in the outcome, I am committed to helping Republican candidates get elected in November.”
Johnson will serve out the remainder of the 119th Congress, which ends January 2, 2027.
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Now he can stay in D.C. and continue his grift as a lobbyist.
Dusty’s team blew it. There was no reason to go as negative as he did.
It’s hard to be the front runner for months or years in advance. He ran generic ads too early. A vote for Dusty was a vote for what exactly? I think his negative ads were bad, but he was really hurt by negative ads too. The day after the election the one thing I know most about Dusty is that he spent more money on private flights than any other member of congress! If you’re going to go negative, the ads better be fact based and speak directly to the voters. If Dusty stayed positive, it would have left room for him to respond to the negative ads, to call out the mean people just trying to take down SD. Instead he was left with no where to pivot. He started the fight and then had to absorb the blows when they came back.
Or maybe the majority of SD voters are sick and tired of professional politicians??
Agreed.
Exactly
A good career of service for Dusty.
Unfortunately, there were two fatal flaws in his campaign. And he and his closest advisors were blind to both. First, his messaging was horrible. His tax proposal was to use the sales tax going back to 4.5 to give everyone a $400 tax break. Very weak and not bold at all. Follow that by the all out, weeks long attack on Rhoden and Hansen for actually getting something done on property tax. Second – his ads were just horrible. The people I’m around thought many of those ads were awkward and inauthentic. Fake truck, fake barn rally, etc. Did nobody tell him how bad they were or did everyone just nod in agreement and how “great” they were? Someone get the name of the ad man, and never ever use him for your race.
Disappointed but not at all surprised by this outcome.
Nailed it. I would also add maybe a campaign manager who had gubernatorial experience would have been helpful. One cannot run for governor as if it were for Congress. He did get a lot of free help early on with all the high schoolers and college kids.
Dusty spent so much time and effort lying about the Rhoden/Hansen property tax relief package that he forgot Doeden was even running. What an epic failure by him and his entire team.
Dusty came in last place in 32 counties. That’s more than a reaction to some negative campaign ads. That’s a firm rejection of the professional political classes candidate.
That’s gotta sting. Tried replicating Noem’s career (except maybe the last part) and got shot down. Should’ve stayed in the House but hindsight is 20/20.
Team Hansen is probably still up celebrating their moral 4th place victory of exceeding 20%.
Good for them.
Thank you for your service, Dusty!
Can you imagine spending 4 million dollars to get 5000 more votes than James Biolata?
I hope we can quickly heal up and unite against Doeden.
It was a mistake by the other candidates to not constantly point out the absolute con-job he was doing to SD.
I’m beyond frustrated that people will vote for this guy and also say they hate politicians who are full of it. Time to call him out on all of his hare-brained ideas!
Do believe that most of us are vey glad to see him gone.
Will say, i wish that we had had better choice of candidates to run against him.
Marty Jackley still bugs me a bit, but its only two years, and he is much better then Dusty.
Dusty Johnson is still the goat. IYKYK.
Well looks like Dusty boy Daschle’d. Would open primaries have changed anything?
I agree with many of the comments about Dusty‘s campaign. I hope we can set that aside though and thank Dusty for being a truly outstanding public servant for a long time. I don’t know what the future holds for him, but the time for running him down is over.
If Doeden wins the nom, I will vote for a dem as governor for the first time in my life. Enough of this populist insanity.
Me too…all one has to do is look at Toby’s questionable past. Then there is Tobby’s campaign manage Hurley with all his criminal Red Flags. Aren’t Campaign managers consider the candidate’s most trusted and most important person employed by a candidate.
What bugs me is 32% of the voters in Brown County which is Toby’s stomping grounds voted for him. Granted that is not a mandate but he is hated in Aberdeen and Groton.
Let’s all make sure we get out the vote for Larry Rhoden!!
Well so much for polls. So happy Dusty will be unemployed come January
I have been privately complaining about Dusty’s ads for weeks. For anyone who hasn’t noticed, Dusty is a bit on the nerdy side. So, in my opinion, you either own that in a clever way, or you counter the image. He reinforced it! Even when his kids were in the ads, he still appeared like an overconfident nerd. And that’s not a winning image.
Rhoden, on the other hand, had great ads. Not necessarily very modern but still very well done and it served him well.
Finally, did anyone see Doeden go after Dusty late last night? Wow. He looked like a real di(k. He was a sweating, angry and cocky bully. More people need to see that tirade. You won’t be able to forget it. Nasty dude.
Definitely not the end for Dusty…
If you didn’t notice, he’s surrounded by a great group of young leaders. That doesn’t mean they’re his clones or follow him like a blind dog. They’re their own people, with their own ideas, ambitions, and vision for South Dakota. No one is perfect, but I admire that they’re willing to step up and lead. The future of South Dakota isn’t in the hands of any one person not Dusty, not Toby Doeden, not Larry Rhoden. It belongs to the next generation, it’s “we the people” that will shape what comes next. Did Dusty go too negative? Yeah, I think he did and I would have loved to be the one to give him an ego check early on. The PACs certainly didn’t help but it would also be illegal for him to know about them for your information. He had no room to respond to the attacks when he went a little to far with the property tax shift. It’s too confusing to the normal constituent. However the Dusty I’ve come to know is someone who believes in lifting people up and investing in others. This campaign never really felt like the Dusty I know. It felt too constructed, and somewhere along the way people forgot that he’s still human. To be honest, I think he may have forgotten that too. For the last eight years, he’s been an earmarking and policy machine. Politics has its highs and lows. Today was probably one of the first times in a long time that someone had to pick Dusty up instead. That’s part of public service too. One election doesn’t define a career, and it certainly doesn’t define the people who have been inspired to lead because of him. John Thune lost his first race for Senate. Dusty just happened to lose his first race for Governor. Stay tuned, South Dakota. There are still nominations ahead for Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Auditor, Commissioner of School and Public Lands, Public Utilities Commission, and State Treasurer. Perhaps it’s time to return a favor. I think he would be one hell of a Secretary of State. You may not always see it, and you may not always agree with him, but Dusty has dedicated much of his life to serving South Dakota. Public service isn’t measured by a single election night.
I’m ok with another boring 4 years under Rhoden. Anyone but Doeden.
IMHO the notion of Dusty being given a political appointment is absolutely ludicrous. Before he becomes a paid public servant again he would do well to learn how six pack Joe survives in SD. Maybe he and his sons should start a lawn mowing business in Mitchell?
Don’t worry, the young people will have their first experience in politics by being completely ignored in the future by the older people. Some will see it right away and others won’t. The advisors, endorsees, etc need a good self reflection and understand the many whys.
Dusty was the only Republican trying to lead and build the party top to bottom and doing so with his resources and team. Not Rhoden, not Toby, not Jon, not Rounds, not Jackley, nor Thune.
Mistake #1. Ran a ton of Giggle Boy ads, Dusty and My Three Sons yukking it up around the kitchen with no real message. WTH? Cutesy works for city commish race, maybe, but not for gov.
Mistake #2. He created all ads to prominently feature his face. Soothes vanity, but in this case, he looks like he is still in high school. Suggest poor lighting, hats, shots from a distance. A face made for radio.
Mistake #3. He has been running for gov since he was in high school. Lots of people knew that. Wanted it too bad. Willing to say whatever, to get in.
Mistake #4 Running ads endlessly, until people tired of them. Overcooked.
Mistake #5 claiming Rhoden and Hansen raised 400 taxes. People knew instantly that the claim was entirely false. If they raised taxes 400 times, we would have heard of it. Toss a BS flag.
Confession. I bet a steak dinner Dusty would come in last. I nearly won it!
DID I MISS SOMETHING, OR HAS HANSON NOT CONCEDED YET?!!! The most recent communication from him is a social media post encouraging people to vote. What’s he doing?!!!! He spent almost nothing and was within 2% of Dusty. Why the heck is he waiting so long to say something? It’s like his goal is make himself more irrelevant.
Now it’s between the wingnuts and Ag.