What was that comment at the Hughes County Lincoln Day Dinner about Rounds “serving closer to home?” More Rounds for Gov speculation..

@SoDakCampaigns

I wasn’t there but there was a comment from the podium at this week’s Hughes County Lincoln Day Dinner about Senator Rounds’ future that has people chattering a bit.

In the introductions for Senator Rounds from his former Chief of Staff Rob Skjonsberg, I’m told it ended with a comment about Rounds “serving closer to home” in the future.

The nature of that potential service closer to home has tongues wagging and is generating more talk about Rounds running for a third term as Governor, when his Senate term completes and the next Governor’s race is up, both coinciding in 2026, further adding fuel to the rumor I had written about at the start of the month.

I’m sure there are those like Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden, Congressman Dusty Johnson, and others who might take issue with Rounds attempting to return, so we’ll see. There are a lot of months between now and the 2026 Governor’s race, so I’m sure we will be talking more about it between now and then.

39 thoughts on “What was that comment at the Hughes County Lincoln Day Dinner about Rounds “serving closer to home?” More Rounds for Gov speculation..”

  1. Doesn’t Rounds running for governor lose the seat?

    I feel like his aspirations could be summed-up in three characters:

    E

    B

    5

    If I am correct and “Rounds’ policy” (LOL) gave communist Chinese operatives purview over the local music scene in Lawrence County and they used that leverage to promulgate a whisper campaign that cost me ~$60,000 in income (and counting) for being pro USA, I can never in good faith trust Rounds or anyone who supports him.

    Other people might be okay if the Alligator eats them last instead of first.

    Okay fine.

    Stand up now or your income is next (the plan is comprehensive and nobody will be immune from the wiles of communism).

    We’ll see.

    2. two things shut the door on eb5 as an issue – jackley didn’t prosecute anything, and nobody else anywhere else in the country prosecuted anything either. sure there are clusters of detractors for this or that, and sure mmr delivered his speech applause lines to the sound of crickets more often than not. he is still the clearest way back to the classic form of republican governance that made this state great in the ways we count on, a form we have slid askew from.

      1. If flags are already being planted from podiums at LDD’s then I would say other people might want to make other plans.

        Rounds has good options.

        1. When you aren’t trying to run for President and be on Fox TV all the time, you don’t need a bunch of DC comms people. I long for the days of Janklow, Rounds, and Daugaard. Didn’t always agree with them, but they were there to run the state not to run a political operation.

          1. The real question is could Rounds get a tax cut out of a committee in a super majority legislature?

            If yes than he is qualified to be governor.

            That’s the new benchmark.

      3. EB5 was nothing more than an oversight by people thinking the rules were all tightly being followed The greatest story forever concerns Red Wilks, a Huron contractor and friend of mine. Red is a Vietnam vet, large scale contractor and recovering alcoholic. He was into the Aberdeen beef plant to the tune of over $1,000,000 and not getting paid so at a meeting with three Korean investors he opened up his briefcase and pulled out a very real looking hand grenade pulling the pin , rolling it across the table and hollering out “I fought your kind in Nam and I’m not fooling around here today”. Everyone in the room scattered under tables knocking over chairs and water bottles and the two Feds in the room escorted Red out the door never allowing him back on the property. Luckily a Huron banker took Red’s million dollar bill and recovered over 3/4 of it. Moral of the story is never mess with a Vietnam Vet.

  2. Could it be that’s why Rob left his Senate office and started lobbying? He’s in the Capitol full-time now building relationships and laying the groundwork for a run?

    1. More practically, it would be Dusty to Senate and Marty could run for House. I do like the idea of Rounds back at Gov.

  6. Marty vs. Dusty for Senate would be the next Abdnor vs. Janklow. Luckily, there’s no Daschle-like figure to benefit from it.

    1. No. Does not rise to that at all. Dusty could be the next US Senator. He is good in the Legislative body. Marty’s only chance is running for House. I really don’t believe that he’ll ever be Governor. Too many better options for that seat. House is feasible if Rounds moves to Gov.

  8. Rounds for Senate leaned on Team Dusty in the last primary for a chunk of his ground game. Next gov election, Glodt will be tied up with whatever Marty runs for. Rollins has moved to DC permanently and is never coming back. What does that leave him for ground game besides staffers?

    Rounds should be the elder statesman and support Dusty. 2026 is Dusty’s time.

        1. Rollins did his best work in ’02 when he convinced Rounds to run as the underdog and be the nice guy.

  10. Dusty has no chance against Rounds. He would have problems raising money for the simple reason he has relied on Rounds’ fundraising network that won’t be there for him if he tries to run against MR. A couple of weeks ago he was calling folks who raised money for MR and him. Most, if not all, were hesitant to commit until they new what MR was going to do. If MR lets folks know he is considering running that will freeze Dusty’s money raising efforts.

  11. “ounds” nailed it, in the message directly above. Rounds ices all the serious donors until they know his plan. He would be formidable.

  12. Dusty vs Rounds for Governor would be fascinating. Do not underestimate the possibility of an ultra-conservative challenger like Taffy Howard, Odenbach, or Hansen getting 35% as Dusty/Rounds split the normal GOP vote in that scenario. Fundraising would be an issue for that challenger, though.

    Worth being said that if Kristi goes for Senate and Rounds goes for Governor that Dusty is going to need to make a big time move. Just goes to show you never have a clear path in politics. Will also be interesting all the names that sprout up for Congress with the big players going for Sen and Gov.

    1. FWIW – direct candidate fundraising isn’t quite as big of a factor as it used to be. The big wild card is the IEs & Super PACs. They can drop $500k in a race like this with the right candidate and a dozen others can drop mail, buy radio, etc. for others. Taffy came out of nowhere at the end with a lot of air cover from out-of-state groups nobody had ever heard of spending on her behalf.

  13. Several great candidates mentioned on this thread.

    But 26 is pretty far off. Let’s elect a dynamic President in 2024. Let’s fill his or her cabinet with great, experienced, effective leaders. I’ve had more than enough of Joe Biden’s clown show.

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