You read it here first. Sutton Names person who switched parties to run as Lt. Gov Candidate

You read it here first. Billie Sutton apparently did what I was told he was going to do.

Democrat and gubernatorial hopeful Billie Sutton on Thursday announced that Sioux Falls businesswoman Michelle Lavallee would be his running mate.

The announcement comes a day before the South Dakota Democratic Party is set to meet to nominate candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state. Delegates will also weigh other nominations Friday.

and…

Lavallee was registered as a Democrat as of Thursday morning.

Read it here.

As I related to you two weeks ago..

An anonymous source in Democrat circles is telling me tonight that Billie Sutton has selected “Michelle Lavallee as his Lt. Gov running mate.”  According to the Voter Database, the only “Michelle Lavallee” registered to vote in the state is from Sioux Falls and registered as a Republican. According to LinkedIn she also appears to be the former president of the Downtown Sioux Falls Rotary Club.

This would make for an odd situation, since if it were true, she would be voting in the Republican Primary in June, and then switching parties to run in the fall as a Democrat, since mixed party tickets are not allowed.   This would be similar to when Scott Heidepriem ran against Dennis Daugaard and picked a Republican running mate who had to switch parties.

Read that here.

And again, it just goes to show you that Sutton could find no electable Democrats in the party to be his running mate. So he had to talk someone into joining the Dem Party.

I can’t imagine Democrat delegates are going to appreciate that.

40 thoughts on “You read it here first. Sutton Names person who switched parties to run as Lt. Gov Candidate”

  1. Seems fair. At least two Democrats switched to Republican so they could be precinct committee people to vote for AG at convention.

  2. Dems REALLY aren’t going to like Paul Ten Haken’s campaign chair as Sutton’s pick. What a disastrously stupid pick.

  3. Should be an interesting D convention. Liberals won’t be happy. Does this lead to a Means nomination for AG to appease that wing?

    1. My wife and I attended the press conference. Sutton’s comments about his own political party were not complimentary. I told my wife I wondered what reception he would get tomorrow and Saturday at the SD Democratic Party convention. Just as Kristi needs the GOP convention to approve her running mate, Sutton needs the Dem convention to approve his running mate.

    2. So far surprisingly Living Hard Left, Stoned and Angry in South Dakota has just an announcement from the Sutton campaign with no negative comments though elsewhere one has a meme of another vomiting.

      Regarding everyday reasonable South Dakotans which are the majority it is a big plus.

  4. Off the top of my head, I could list 20 top-quality Republicans in the Legislature, city or county elected leaders, formerly elected leaders, business leaders, community leaders, etc. who would be highly capable and likely willing to serve as Lt. Governor if asked by Governor-nominee Noem. I think I could get to 50 if I worked at it.

    Billie Sutton looked at Democrats who are his colleagues in the Legislature, city or county elected leaders, formerly elected leaders, business leaders, community leaders, etc. and determined none of them would be good Lt. Governor’s and potentially Governor. Or, none of them would join his ticket.

    In short, there is not only no “bench” in the Democratic Party, they are obviously a one-legged milking stool. Our democracy needs a viable and robust Democratic Party in our state. Unfortunately, the Democrats seem grossly incompetent to ever pull it out.

    It is as if they expect Republicans to put them on welfare to keep them alive and think putting one their ticket does that. You just can’t make this stuff up.

  5. Good pick for Sutton.

    It pushes Kristi further right and makes the middle ground harder for her to claim. There is a contingent of people out there, including me, who were ready to cheer as “Republicans for Sutton” had Jackley won. We represent people who do think Pierre needs a total shake up and that the SD GOP has not stewarded her supermajority well.

    It would really be a wild ride to the finish if Kristi picked an independent – someone beholden to neither party – non establishment. The magic of Trump is that he did not emerge from the GOP. He emerged from all of us out there who were sick of the establishment and view both parties as the problem. Such a pick would go a long way to neutralise the ground Sutton is going for with his Lt Gov. pick today.

    I think Noem’s predictable picks would be Rhoden, Mickelson, Rave, and perhaps even McCaulley and Seward. Deb Peters should be on the list – probably one of the most competent people we have elected to serve in Pierre– the honey badger that didn’t flinch holding Jackley’s feet to the fire with his budgets or back down to Stacey’s bully tactics. I don’t think Kristi can pick someone further right than where she stands. Too many independent voters who would turn to Sutton.

    1. Deb Peters? Oh boy.

      The convention would rise up. It would be quite interesting to observe. Please make it happen.

    2. Deb Peters would push me to the other ticket. Under no scenario will I vote for her. She is no republican. Is that you Deb?

  6. Sigh of relief Billie did not lose for a moment his good sense and pick someone from the Hard and Abrasive left.

  7. There was some early talk about Billie being the leader to revitalize the Democratic Party in South Dakota. Clearly, he has set his sights lower than that. I do not think this helps him get Republican votes, but I do think it takes some of the fervor out of his base. Bad pick if you’re Billie, good pick if you’re Governor Kristi.

    1. Billie should have formed his own party and called it the moderate Republican Party.

  8. “And if something happened to me, there is no one I’d rather have running this state than… Michelle Lavallee.” Said no one ever.

  9. Taking a page from the Scott Heidepriem playbook, Democrat Gov nominee chooses a Sioux Falls, Republican, business person. Ick. Argh. Ugh. Seems like he could do much better.

  10. OK you young folks out there. Remember her name — she’ll be a mere footnote in history. An answer to a trivia question 30 years from now. Or 8 years from now.

    1. Joining the ranks of Billie Sutton (grandpa), Mike O’Connor, Ted Thoms, Shirley Halleen, Jim Abbott, Elsie Meeks, Mike Wilson, Eric Abrahamson, Ben Arndt, and Susy Blake.

      All nice people.

  11. Just imagine how much better the Republican Party would be if this Democrat would be doing her work at making the Democrat Party better from the get go. Instead, the crazies have commandeered the Democrat Party leaving reasonable Democrats to infiltrate and dilute the Republican Party at the expense of the word conservative and more importantly conservative values.

  12. So she took a page from the Huether playbook: change affiliation to further your career, and don’t hold any core values and priorities. Way to go, RINO!

      1. No, a lack of core values. What is there about the Democrat party that is apealing? I think a lot of times it is, “Daddy was a Demmycrat and Grandpappy was a Demmycrat so that’s what I’m going to be.”

  13. Don’t worry my Republican friends, there will be a challenge to this nomination…. 😉

  14. It seems the Dems have taken on the strategy of hiding which party they really belong to. There is a young man running for the House from Watertown that has been going way out of his way to not admit he’s a democrat. Sad when it’s gotten so bad that they try to hide it!

  15. VSG,

    I am really close to betting there will not be a challenge. But, you guys keep surprising me. This really isn’t that hard.

      1. Is Stace Nelson putting up a candidate on the Dem side too? Or is he running himself?

        1. A Nelsonian or CAH nomination torpedo would assure the USS Sutton would be seen sinking beneath the waves.

  16. Had Jolene not went crazy the last two weeks of her mayoral campaign, she actually would have been viable. Unfortunately, she soiled herself.

      1. Never say “done” when speaking of a political candidate…there’s almost always a comeback trail. And remember the Mark Twain quote: “Politicians, old buildings, and prostitutes become respectable with age.”

  17. I don’t think this is terrible strategy. Yes, some D’s will be pissed, but who else are they going to vote for? He has the D vote locked. For Billy to have ANY chance he needs to pick up plenty of moderate R’s and I’m sure he sees an opportunity to nab some Jackley supporters. Playing the fence and picking an R running mate makes him more stomachable to moderate R’s. He still won’t win, but he might lose by less…

    1. Well, we just don’t vote. I didn’t vote in the 2010 gubernatorial race because as far as I was concerned it was really just a Republican primary….

        1. This type of manipulation or attempted manipulation is a joke which tears at the soul of a political party…. Because when you do such a thing, you truly need to ask yourself…”What’s it all about Alfie?”

  18. Wow what a stupid pick. A woman with no name recognition and a Republican. Your LTG main purpose is to work in your stead. You want an LT that could handle being Governor. Frankly I don’t think Billie OR is pick have what it takes. I’m a D and my husband is an Independent but we will both be voting Noem.

  19. I prefer that Kristi wants to pick Rhoden or Mickelson as someone who could be governor.

    I don’t want Michelle as governor.

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