What is going on?
Something strange seems to be happening. But…also something… amazing. Republicans seem to be setting the stage for amazing and unprecedented wins.
Early on, it was apparent that the GOP had three pickups.. but early numbers from Minnehaha now seem to give indicators for possibly up to three more. And that doesn’t include any unexpected pickups out west.
I was tracking some races that I thought might be challenging to defend two weeks ago. And instead they seem to have turned around and are amazingly strong.
Tony Venhuizen had written on his website that:
The most Republican legislature in state history was elected in 1952 – incredibly, Republicans controlled the Senate 35-0 and the House 73-2 , for a cumulate percentage of 98.2%. The past two legislatures – those elected in 2016 and 2018 – are the most Republican since then. ‘
https://sodakgovs.wordpress.com/2020/11/01/partisan-control-of-the-south-dakota-state-legislature/
While we might not have knocked Democrats down to two, we have likely beat the current benchmark, and elected the most Republican Legislature since 1952.
We will know more as Minnehaha County finishes tallying their votes. But the election tonight represents a further endorsement by South Dakotans of their strong support for Republicans being in charge.
Yeah, we like Republicans in charge, just none of their policies (see; marijuana) hahaha