Now there has been a day for things to settle from Secretary of State Monae Johnson’s endorsement of Terrence Davis for Secretary of State, I thought it would be interesting to look at the fallout from her monumental decision to cross party lines to endorse a Democrat for the office.
Unsuccessful GOP Gubernatorial primary candidate Toby Doeden was one of the few who decided to go off about it, via social media. Except it was a weird post where he compared Johnson’s rejection of Heather Baxter, and said it was just like Jon Hansen refusing to campaign for him:
Because, ultimately, it’s all about Toby, isn’t it? The object of Toby’s ire, Jon Hansen also sprang to Baxter’s defense via facebook.
About an hour ago, fully one day later, the South Dakota Republican Party finally got around to posting a statement on facebook from the State Republican Party Executive Board.
I don’t think they sent it out to any media, they just posted it:
It basically says well, that’s who the delegates picked “wholeheartedly.” Wholeheartedly at 59% of the Republicans who went to convention. Which isn’t really representative of the Republican party statewide, just of the people who were in the room at that given moment.
For the Republican candidate herself, Baxter’s immediate response was to tell media that Party affiliation was what they needed to look at when making their choice:
In a statement, Baxter told POLITICO her party affiliation was reason enough to side with her in the general election.
“In June, Republican delegates considered the record and nominated me over incumbent Secretary of State Monae Johnson, 59 percent to 41 percent. That was not confusion,” she said. “That was self-government in action. The letter beside a name is not decoration.”
Well, I guess that’s one way to respond.
The radical right has caused defections. In addition to Monae (not so surprising; Terrence Davis is awesome) two moderate Republicans crossed party lines to endorse Jamie Smith for mayor of Sioux Falls. And they follow Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Jeff Flake, Cassidy Hutchinson, Christine Todd Whitman, Rick Snyder (MI), Bill Weld (MA), and Tom Ridge (PA), Charlie Dent (PA), Steve Bartlett (TX), Mickey Edwards (OK), and Susan Molinari (NY)
Greg Jamison endorsed Jamie Smith. Who was the other Republican to endorse Jamie?
Much like a toddler with a toy, the SDGOP has proven they can’t handle a little responsibility.
So “Vote for me because I’m a Republican” is a qualification now? Yikes!
Liberal’s been doing that for decades!
So what you should’ve said both Parties.
RLTW
I don’t like blanket statements and this isn’t about the democratic candidate so why would I point fingers, just for fun? My comment pertains to “this” post and this candidate (I would have called the other side out too FWIW). You could have been helpful and provided us all with her qualifications if it’s more than an R.
Her shirt at the state fair said plenty – needs to emphasize the REPUBLICAN because we lack qualifications.
I wish the Dems had nominated someone, anyone, for AG. The SDGOP can’t continue to pick unqualified candidates and expect us to vote for them.
Did anyone comment publicly on the relative intelligence of both the current Secretary and the Republican nominee for the position? It seems to me that such a consideration is relevant to both this current matter and the administration of the office over all.
Hi Holling, Where’s Shelly Tambo? Is The Brick crowded tonight?
Stop it.
My response to Toby: who cares what Toby thinks?
Boy no kidding. HE has sour grapes, obviously, but that dorsnt mean that everyone acts at that childlike retaliatory level.
Toby has been ridiculed on his personal facebook page on a regular basis. They far outnumber whatever is left of his supporters/employees/family members.
If only Aberdeen could entice he and his family to sell everything and move far away. It’s like there is a dark storm cloud that follows them.
I’m curious if Toby understands how many Republicans would have voted for Ahlers if Rhoden had lost the runoff. Or maybe it was just me?
Unfortunate to see the absolute fall of the Republican Party in SD. I absolutely respect Monea and the work she has done so her endorsement actually carries weight in my decision to vote in the SOS election. She makes her endorsements with care and sincerity so ultimately it was a shame that she was ousted by a radical far right Party.
That is the problem with the current convention system, an unqualified, arrogant, condescending right-winger can get the nomination without a vote of the Republicans. It is shameful and for the first time in 54 years, I will be voting for a Democrat. Baxter couldn’t even win her own district and now we are supposed to support this loser for SOS?
Jon Hansen sucks.
You got your name wrong…..it’s spelled Dylan.
nope, it was assumed by practically everybody that Hansen would take Pischke’s place and coast into the Senate.
I mean, it’s all about The Cause, right? The Great Crusade!
Nah, if he can’t whip the votes for leadership, he ain’t gonna play.
He’ll just take his ball and stay home.
This tells you everything you ever needed to know about Jon Hansen
Without Jon Hansen and his supporters, polling strongly suggests Toby Doeden would have won the primary outright. Atheists on the Republican left have to attribute the miraculous outcome to dumb luck so they can keep bashing Christians.
That last sentence is wild.
That last sentence is ignorant!
Shad not even close.
Both Doeden and Hansen believed they were called by God to govern the state.
There’s a theological explanation here but I don’t think it’s “atheists on the Republican left…..bashing Christians.”
There is no such thing as an athiest left Republican. When did that made of idea become something to say out loud? There are good Republicans who are Christians and then there are the evil right Libertarians who claim to be conservative Christian Republicans (aka Freedom Caucus).
if both of them were called by God to govern the state and they both lost, who got it wrong?
who put the shat in the eschatology?
Theologians want to know
Jon was the speaker of the house. Doeden lied as usual. Only an atheist could be blind to the difference.
but they both lost
The South Dakota body of registered Republicans, whether Freedom Caucus or auto-pilot straight ticket voters, really need to feel true pain right at home here in the state where they live as payback for the idiocy their ill-conceived actions bring about for all of us.
Maybe Heather Baxter winning on a mindless party line vote will bring that true pain, at last.
Been saying for a few years now that we need to elect these offices at the primary. Monae Johnson said and did whatever it took to win at the convention – then figured out that governing actually means you have to do the honest work of running the people’s business. I sort of think she knew this but like many politicians was willing to do whatever it took to get elected. Prior to Monae, we had Ravnsborg campaigning for three years because he had nothing else really to do – got himself appointed as a Deputy SA to prop up his candidacy, but it was all smoke and mirrors. Should have never been elected.
There may have been a time when the Republican convention mattered. Prior to the internet and social media, party officials could come together to question and choose the best candidates, and then help those candidates via the party infrastructure. That system is no longer needed. Candidates can easily run a primary and speak directly to voters via social media channels along with more traditional campaign advertising. Today’s convention is no longer needed and frankly excludes tens of thousands of Republicans. Many of us don’t want to dedicate an entire weekend while we are raising kids, coaching teams, working shifts, and taking care of family obligations. So the convention attracts the lunatics and friends of candidates, and that ‘s really about it. If the Legislature has any balls at all this session, they will make this change once and for all. Minimum – AG and Secretary of State elected at a Primary – but may might to do it for all the offices. Get it done.
A crazy can do plenty of damage in one of the other offices. Rip off the bandaid. Move them all to primaries.
Really rip of the bandaid and have some form of open primaries so the far right and far left won’t be able to pander so easily to just the base base.
anon @ 9:13 pm we already have an open primary, All anybody has to do is change their voter registration. It costs nothing to participate.
The problem is the low voter turn out.
It’s the presidential primaries which boost turn out, but our primary is so late in the year, the presidential nominees have already been selected.
Our June primary is one of only 4 states left (MT, NJ, NM being the others) and nobody cares whom we vote for in our primary,
The winners are already on their way to their national party conventions.
Our legislature could easily move our primaries to an earlier date, before school gets out, before graduations, weddings and family reunions, before everybody gets busy with other things.
But they won’t do it.
So you can’t get up off your ass, so change the rules. Do you have even a shred of self-awareness?
It’s always interesting to watch the “We the People” folks attempting to protect a non-democratic process because it benefits them. Such a principled group of individuals.
so true. and very ironic isn’t it. they don’t want the people to have the say because they want control and they know they can rally their fellow crazies to show up to convention. just because I have little interest in spending three days with the crazy side of the party doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have a vote. Settling these in a primary gets over 100,000 Republican voters that chance.
if you look at the job description in the SDGOP bylaws, it’s a lot more than the one day job the crazy delegates think it is.
It’s the total political campaign in their precinct. It’s making contact with all the voters, identifying eligible voters who are not registered, doing lit drops, working the phones, raising money, helping with parades, manning the booth at the county fair, going into the nursing homes to help with absentee ballots, poll-watching on Election Day.
People who take their commitments and responsibilities seriously look at the job and think “I could do the convention but I don’t have the time for all the rest of it.”
That’s why we might as well just scuttle the precinct positions entirely, because the only people who sign up are the ones with no intention of doing the work.
MJ is like Lucy on Charlie Brown.
Baxter is guaranteed to win now!
RLTW
The same group that got Monae voted in was the same group that got Baxter voted in at Convention, the Freedom Caucus or known as right-wingers. They continue to load up on precinct people that agree with their point of view, not necessarily the view of most Republicans and vote in their candidates. For this reason we need to do away with Convention and put it all in Primary voting. One group is abusing the power of Convention so it needs to be taken away. This last convention proves this, a very poor selection for AG and SOS which now has many Republicans debating voting for the Democrat candidate. Both the AG and SOS had good candidates to choose from at Convention but with the right wingers loading up on members the qualified candidates were out voted for lesser candidates. The GOP needs to act on this or Democrats will be voted into office in the future more and more.
Agreed.
And just think, if this change would’ve been made already (thank goodness it was for the Lt Gov position at least), we could’ve saved the county and state resources that will be expended on the upcoming Tom Pischke trial, as his (perceived) actions are the best selling point to move these positions’ nominations to the primary.
Actually it is the same group that got Monae with their overly religious untruths
tried getting Toby in too. Actually Toby did a video that God told him to run, just like Monae said God told her to run.
Anyone with a brain knows Monae very if any of the promises she said she would.
Want to say, what can we expect from someone who originated from Calif.. However we did have some good people move here who were from Calif. Remember there often is one bad apple in every bunch, and Monae was one rotten calif apple.
Exactly right!
Why does it matter about the letter behind someones name? Seriously?
Just because you a D behind your name doesnt mean you are liberal or non-conservative.
Just because you a R behind your name doesnt mean your are MAGA or conservative.
People first, politics second, plain and simple.
If they are actually qualified to hold office, thats all that matters. The fallout of this is only because the GOP in this state only wants people with an R behind their name, nothing else. People over politics, and thats what Monae did. Its about time this happened in SD.
People First! He says. As usual Zero self-awareness from the ‘smart republican”
Well said!
I’ve posted many times that people should google Phil Donahue when he interviewed John Wayne (Democrat) in 1979. Short version,
Reagan and Wayne were best friends. Phil said something to the effect of Wayne voting against his friend. Wayne said he was voting for Reagan as he was the only California governor that had cali in the black!
Great interview.
I’ve never voted strictly party line, as a Democrat I haven’t voted for my party since Bill Clinton’s first term. The China flu hoax still irks me!
That’s the reason prices have gone crazy high!
Flipping liberals!
RLTW
Flipping maggats! Trump’s stupidity is why prices are crazy high. Quite kind of hoax? Thousands of people died due to covid.
What kind of hoax, that is.
It will be hard for Hansen to win a statewide race if Toby attacks him every time he has an opportunity.
Is anyone paying attention to Toby anymore? He is trying to stay relevant. He is irrelevant and he knows it.
Toby has money and a platform, it’s proven more people listen to him than Jon Hansen. By the way interesting him throwing shade at Jon and respect toward Dusty.
Well said, he has way more respect for Dusty than Jon, as should everyone after this primary. Actions speak the loudest
years ago, it became apparent that bad actors were recruiting useful idiots to take precinct committee positions for the sole purpose of disrupting the convention process. The people who signed up were not at all interested in doing the actual job of being precinct committee people, they just wanted to go to convention and cause trouble.
The SDGOP bylaws committee was charged with addressing this. Different proposals were discussed, lsuch as electing them in June and having their terms begin July 1, so that they would do the campaign work for the season in which they were elected, and then go to the convention at the end of their two-year term. Another proposal was to eliminate them from the counties where nobody had bothered to create a county central committee, since precinct committee people have to serve under the direction of a county chairman. If none of them can be bothered to create a county central committee, it’s pretty obvious they aren’t interested in doing any work. Another proposal was to eliminate the precinct committee positions entirely, since none of them were doing what they were supposed to do anyway.
And finally, it has been suggested that the party put all the statewide offices on the primary ballot.
Every suggestion was met with “but we’ll get blowback.”
The person who worried the most about blowback was the chairman of the bylaws committee. He was the reason nothing got done.
Now the party is REALLY getting blowback. And it’s a HOT blowback.
We are now at the point that the only viable solution is to move all the statewide offices to the primary.
It could be due to the fact a few people in the party actually had values other than just to follow and believe any garbage Trump says. It wasn’t that long ago that even Trump told them to do the opposite of what he’s doing now. I don’t understand how so many people have been brainwashed to follow this, even me brining this up I will just be dismissed as “a lib” or “TDS”.
This problem preceded Trump’s ride down the escalator in 2015
Those of us who were participating in County party meetings, fundraisers and campaigns started noticing that people we had never even heard of were signing up for precinct committee positions. They never came to county meetings. When we tracked them down and asked them to show up for a homecoming parade, a fundraiser, a lit drop, ANYTHING, they blew us off.
For years, this was merely annoying. Why did they sign up if they didn’t want to do the job? Other than being annoying, they seemed rather harmless.
Then in 2018 it was awful. Yes, Trump was in the White House but he didn’t have any reason to complain about a stolen election.
The 2018 convention was crazy. Things were pretty routine until Saturday morning when the floodgates opened. People who had not been in attendance Thursday or Friday stormed in, had no idea what was going on, but there they were, representing counties which had no central committees. Approaching delegates from those counties to ask if they would like to form a central committee turned out to be a waste of time. It’s always interesting when you ask a precinct committee man “would you like to serve as a county chair & get a county party organized?” and he says he’s not interested.
Most of them had been recruited by Lance Russell.
He had not recruited them to form county central committees. He had not recruited them to participate in the convention committee meetings,
He had not recruited them to attend the Governor’s Dinner Fundraiser on Friday night. He had recruited them to show up on Saturday, and contribute nothing but chaos. The Fitzgerald team got suckered into participating in that chaos and between the two of them, they alienated so many delegates the nomination went to Ravnsborg.
It was never about Trump.
Pischke’s alleged shenanigans were not about Trump, either.
Please stop giving Tubby the attention he doesn’t deserve.
The John Hansen cult is a group of low-IQ morons who couldn’t politically operate their way out of a phone booth. His Judas moment came, and it will not be forgotten. He permanently destroyed the coalition, one I supported.
Hats off to the establishment for playing these fools like a fiddle. The genius is that they won so big the other side still doesn’t realize how badly they lost.
Your claim that Jon’s supporters are low-IQ morons might seem more credible if you didn’t misspell his name. If his “Judas moment” destroyed the coalition between his supporters and Doeden’s, would you say it was Doeden’s Jesus moment?
Another admission posted as a comment unintentionally.
Vote for the most qualified person; forget all of the pandering.
Looks like the state GOP got their MyPillow panties in a twist… Quick! Flood the zone. Deploy an AI poster!
That made me laugh. “Deploy an AI poster!”
So today, Heather sent out a long email about this, so that everybody who didn’t know the current SOS had endorsed her opponent knows it now.
(facepalm)
Upshot: Lauren Boebert makes officeholding look too darn easy and attainable.