Tapio moving towards a sequel to 2018 contest against Dusty Johnson in Congressional race?

Pat Powers

Former State Senator Neal Tapio has a lot to say on Facebook lately, and keeps bringing up Congressman Dusty Johnson, and the upcoming 2020 election, as he compares himself to President Donald Trump:

Many people have asked me to challenge Dusty. They want a Representative who defends President Trump, not someone who continually undermines him.

So I’ve considered the possibility of a primary. I’ve asked myself, is it really worth the sacrifice of time and money, to be a lone voice for South Dakota and try to fight the system? Is that the best way to represent South Dakota? Is it the best way to help farmers, hospitals, and small business people to go along and get along and simply adding to the ever increasing debt? For better or worse, Sen. Thune had chosen to become a part of the system, and enjoys re-election numbers of nearly 70%

What are the chances one person out of 535, could have an impact on immigration policy, trade policy, the war on Islamic Terrorism, refugee policy, regulation policy, the culture wars and health care policy by continually fighting the system?

Then I remember. One person did just that.

Donald Trump ran for office and has worked every day to break the corrupt system.

Read the entire post here.

Could Tapio conceivably challenge Johnson in a rematch, this time without having to split the vote with another person?

In the 2018 Republican Primary, Tapio came in a close third to Congressman Johnson and former Secretary of State Shantel Krebs, managing 24% to Krebs 29% and Dusty’s nearly 47% in that threeway contest.

2018 Republican primary election – At Large Congressional District of South Dakota
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Dusty Johnson 47,032 46.8
Republican Shantel Krebs 29,442 29.2
Republican Neal Tapio 23,980 24.0
Total votes 100,454

Dusty had nearly 20 points over his nearest contender in the 2018 primary. Moving to a two-way contest, he’d only have to pick up less than 5% over his prior total to call it a decisive win.

If he pulls the trigger, Neal would have to pick up an additional 26% over his prior total. Not to mention that he’d be running against an incumbent who won the general election with 60% of the popular vote in the fall.

Adding to the challenge, after his primary loss with overpaid egoist Shad Olson at the campaign’s helm, Tapio’s next hurdle would be assemble and launch a new, and this time competent campaign team. This would come up against Dusty’s campaign which is already up and running and on the trail.

If you look to the recent past, challengers taking on incumbents haven’t fared very well. Just ask Lora Hubbel who took on Governor Dennis Daugaard, and only managed 19%.

Former Senator Neal Tapio might be in the process of making a decision about whether or not to run, but if he’s going to do it, he probably shouldn’t dawdle. He’s got a lot more ground to make up than a person might think.

Update…  The entire raison d’être for Neal to write his post was an assumption that Dusty was going to vote the for the budget deal that’s in front of Congress. As Congressman Johnson pointed out to Neal in a comment under the post…

If Neal jumps in, he might not want to make automatic assumptions about Dusty. He did do pretty well in their previous encounter.

34 thoughts on “Tapio moving towards a sequel to 2018 contest against Dusty Johnson in Congressional race?”

  1. “Donald Trump ran for office and has worked every day to break the corrupt system.”

    Ahahahanahhahahahahaha!

  3. My concern is Tapio will win. Dusty has done a poor job and frequently rips Trump. Tapio is insane.

    Another alternative would be preferred to either.

    The best thing Tapio could do is find someone who can be better than him and better than Dusty.

    2. Wait a minute. PRESIDENT TRUMP supports the budget proposal. So How does this Dusty/Neal thing jive?

  4. We would vote Tapio again.

    If Johnson was able to win the primary, we would skip voting for him. We want border security, more deportations and illegals off our welfare system. America First. DJ did not come through for us or the POTUS. I think Peace Corp supporters are disappointed in DJ too; he will not have the same turnout as the first go-round.

    1. I think it would be hard for DJ to garner Trump supporters in a head to head race after his voting record. Tapio is too fringe to win but he is not about winning. He is about making extreme statements that garner attention.

      Trump supporters deserve a better option than Tapio. They deserve someone who can win.

      SD Republicans deserve a better congressman than DJ.

      1. Anon 8:05, I think you need to look at the voting record. Over at Howie’s site, Dusty’s consistent support for Trump is noted (these are in addition to Dusty voting against impeachment and against Pelosi’s condemnation resolution):

        Oppose federalizing our elections VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Oppose $15 minimum wage VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Oppose Pelosi appropriations VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Oppose amnesty VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Protect White House arm sales discretion VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Oppose strengthening CFPB VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Oppose Obamacare bailout VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Oppose Second Amendment restrictions VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Protect Born-Alive Abortion Survivors VOTED WITH THE PRESIDENT
        Support of USMCA trade deal SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT

  5. Neal needs to pick his spot. Timing is everything. He’ll lose big to Dusty. Two-time losers are finished in SD politics, with rare exception.

  7. So Tapio is saying he wouldn’t support Trump’s budget? Traitor! You must support Trump 100 percent of the time, right?

      1. I would agree with that as Trump is not a Republican. Trump idolizes much of the Democratic platform as in unions and creating and maintaining a socialistic welfare system for farmers.

      2. I would Tapio is like a Senator Lee or Senator Paul. Some Libertarian is not bad.

  9. Tapio is one of the few who speak out against radical Islamists, as we see playing out with the squad.
    Anyone who thinks they are friendly to the USA is living in a dream world.

    1. Yes and we don’t need a congressional candidate who talks about islam all the time.

      2. The Pillowman will probably be running against Omar in MN. I think he will beat her.

  10. The only worse option than Tapio is Krebs. The only worse option than Krebs is Tapio. They were both bad.

    How about Ravnsborg?

  11. The President has had Dusty to a small social event at the White House. Doesn’t sound like something Donald Trump would do if he didn’t like him at some level.
    Pretty safe bet that Dusty will our Congressman at President Trump’s second inaugural

    2. All members of Congress get invited to the White House for social events- even the Democrats.

  13. I like Neal, but if he is going to follow Trump on his leftist, pro union, trade policies then we need to find someone else to challenge Johnson.

  14. I really don’t get why there are some republicans who are so against Dusty. In my opinion, Dusty is doing an excellent job. He has voted a couple times where I don’t agree with, but that’s what you get when you have a representative government. What I have liked personally about Dusty is the fact that he is so open and transparent about why he voted a certain way. Personally I don’t want a guy to be the president’s yes man. I certainly want a representative who supports President Trump’s agenda, but is also their own person and serves as a check and balance. Barring some unfathomable controversy, Dusty will have my vote again.

  15. I am with Dusty 115%. Never have we had representation, that includes are current senators who is so open and willing to respond to constituents in a public open setting. That can be dangerous but he still does it with honesty and respect to everyone!
    Having a rubber stamp for the president is a bad idea…for anywhere. In the social media age, we cannot disagree with someone without having our head ripped off for it. Exhibit A: The democrat party!

    Dusty will have my support!

  16. Tapio is an extremist.

    He continually talks about Christianity and Christian values as a solution to the nation’s problems.

    Plus he is such a racist! He is Islamophobic. He doesn’t stop talking about Islam and Islamic terrorism.

    Islam is a religion of peace and terror has nothing to do with Islam. I know so many peaceful Muslims and they are good people.

    He thinks fighting on the side of Islamic rebels against Islamic terrorists is wrongheaded, leading to an endless war on terror! He even wants to call it the war against Islamic terrorism

    So extreme.

    Tapio even called for the ending of Indian reservations. Just because there is a complete breakdown of civil society on the reservations doesn’t mean we should do anything different.

    He thinks schools should be a drug free zone and doesn’t want to legalize marijuana. He thinks presumptive probation is a horrible idea.

    There is no place for this kind of extremism in the Republican Party.

    Oh…and he fights too hard for what he believes in…he should capitulate more so that he wouldn’t be such an extremist.

  17. The White House just tweeted out an op-ed by Dusty, so the relationship must be pretty good.

  18. The fringe is the fringe by definition. And Don Quixote is a literary example of a person willing to pound his head against the proverbial wall.

    Neil, Schyller, Lora, et. al.: You give every breakfast group humorous fodder. Without you, we’d talk more sports, talk more politics, talk more family stuff. You give us comedy. I thank you.

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