Top Ten South Dakota Political Stories of 2020 – part 2 (counting down from #5-1)

I had good intentions of finishing this list out within a few days of posting the bottom 1/2 of the 10 for 2020..  and we had a bit of a mess between a crazy rally in Sioux Falls followed by what many are calling an insurrection.   Not to mention that I do have an 8-5, and we’re at the first of the year… so this has gotten pushed back a bit.

I didn’t want to leave it unresolved, so getting back to it…

Top Ten South Dakota Political Stories of 2020 continued (Counting down 5-1)

5. President Trump Visits Mt. Rushmore

The 4th of July Presidential visit by President Trump was a huge item in terms of South Dakota politics.  First off, Presidential visits to the Rushmore State are pretty few and far between, but this visit was so much more.

The visit marked the return of fireworks to the national monument, and given the backdrop it was a spectacle of national interest and proportions. According to conservative estimates from experts, there were indications that “the event had an advertising value of at least $22 million, due to global media coverage.” But not just that. The event was an international signal – as Governor Noem has been advocating – that unlike other areas shuttered because of COVID, South Dakota was open for business. And they’ve come far and wide. It also seemed to be the launch of Governor Noem on a higher stage as a popular surrogate for President Trump.

4. Jason Ravnsborg Accident

The absolutely tragic accident in September where Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg struck and killed a pedestrian walking on the highway outside of Highmore after attending a Republican dinner has dominated the political discussion since it occurred.. and it is still yet to be resolved, as reports are that the attorneys reviewing the case have moved from testing to re-testing evidence from the accident in an attempt to determine whether grounds exist to prosecute Ravnsborg for a crime for the accident.

Literally, everyone in the state is an armchair quarterback and has their own opinion on the case, proclaiming guilt and innocence whether they know anything about the evidence or not. And the rumors abound about every aspect of it.  Ultimately, the investigation will be completed… but the court of public opinion is an entirely different matter, not to mention there will likely be a civil lawsuit.

All of it will have an effect on whether Ravnsborg, the chief law enforcement officer and legal advisor for the State of South Dakota, makes the decision whether or not to run for re-election in 2022.  Formerly an election that was all but guaranteed will be cast in doubt, with Ravnsborg likely to face opponents within the GOP as well as from the Minority party.

3. Recreational & Medicinal Marijuana legalization passes and recreational challenged in court.

Are we sure this is still South Dakota that we live in? The legalization of Marijuana on both the medicinal and recreation fronts had been an issue that had little traction in the past, with attempts at legalization attempted over the past few decades from both those affiliated with the Libertarian party and a loose affiliation of poorly organized advocates. If they managed to achieve ballot status, which wasn’t always certain, they would be beaten at the ballot box to varying degrees, with 2006’s IM 4 previously setting the high bar at 47.7%.

Fast forward to 2019.. where nationally, legalization had some momentum, and South Dakota had just finished with a contentions battle over hemp.   Efforts at medical legalization had again started with the same cast of clowns who had been trying to legalize it before.. but a parallel effort was started by national advocates, who had brought in former US Attorney Brendan Johnson, with the national group now supporting both efforts in terms of money and organization.

The national group provided organization and funding to unheretofor levels.. and opponents did not seem as well-funded or enthused.  There was more resistance to the Amendment A, enshrining it in the state constitution than the initiated measure for medical.. which made fighting it more challenging to explain to voters. Both measures passed, with Amendment A (recreational) passing with a vote of 54.18%, and Initiated Measure 26 (medical) passing by just under 70%.

But.. not so fast. One thing that opponents to measures had found in recent years is that it’s far more economical to fight measures in court on their actual legality than to challenge the millions flowing in from out-of-state special interests.  Why try to match millions and fight slick ad campaigns mid-stream, when you can argue the actual law.  So the opponents played the long game.

And a legal challenge was been filed against the constitutional amendment, on the basis of the changes it is attempting to make to the constitution.

We’ll see what happens in 2021 as parts are fought while other parts are implemented.

2.  Kristi Noem brushes off critics, as profile goes national

If you’ve paid attention over the years, Kristi Noem has a unique place among South Dakota politicians. No matter how much “junk” her critics and opponents try to bury her under, she seems to come back stronger every time.  She’s poised, unflappable under pressure, and has resolve that she’s following her values and doing the right thing.  (And boy, do her detractors throw a lot of flak her way.)

This year under the COVID epidemic, Noem has taken a lot of heat for not shuttering the state as some wanted, and many demanded she do. But it also gave her an opportunity to live her values of limited government and freedom.  And if you look at how South Dakota has fared as COVID has hit the nation.. well, love her or hate her, you have to admit that it has worked.  Economically, South Dakota is surviving the outbreak, and economically would appear to be outpacing many states that shut down businesses almost entirely.

South Dakotans seemed to think so, with Noem polling at 89% approval among Republicans in the state.

With those values and that outlook, Noem was noteworthy enough in her home state. But after Trump appeared with her and highlighted South Dakota in July at Mt. Rushmore, the attention towards Noem took off like a rocket with her serving as a popular campaign surrogate and with many saying that she could be a presidential contender in 2024.

While the campaign didn’t turn out so well for Trump, at least at this point, it doesn’t seem to have affected Kristi’s popularity.

1. COVID-19

Many of our society’s rules were re-written this year when the first widespread pandemic of most people’s lifetimes struck a population unused to dealing with anything more than a bad-flu bug. Because this was more than the flu, and could kill you.

We’re all glued to our computers and wondering what comes next as in 2020 we hoped for normalcy in weeks, then months, then in 2020, for it to be pushed back into maybe 2021. It brought all of our lives to a screeching halt, leaving us to find new ways to work and interact in commerce. It has brought some sectors of our economy down, and raised others to new heights.

It has created waves of discontent, as well as waves of people trying to help others.

Politically, it has forced people to come up with new ways to campaign, as well as for those same officials having to try to figure out how to keep economies on life support, so there’s something left when it’s all figured out.

I could go on, but that was the biggest political story of last year. And will possibly be the biggest political story of 2021.

 

That’s what I’ve got – Agree? Disagree? What were your top 10 South Dakota political stories of 2020?