Had a reader send this amusing doctored photo to me this evening. Along with a notation pointing out that former Madison State Senator Jordan Youngberg has moved to 30 miles or so to the east – over to the Colman area – placing him in District 25 now.
Add to that a little chatter that Youngberg might be missing politics a bit, and contemplating entering back into the Legislative arena, and we have the potential for an interesting face off.
Youngberg first came to the attention of the political scene by knocking out a tough Democrat in a legislative district that was not always hard Republican. And he’s not just an indefatigable campaigner, he’s a pretty decent fundraiser as well.
Another bit of information that was brought to my attention is that the Dell Rapids/Garretson area is Youngberg’s hometown, with family still all over the place. Meaning that after redistricting, the new District 25 is made up of Youngberg’s hometown area, and much of his old district.
Factor that against sitting District 25 State Senator Tom Pischke, who not just literally tied with Julie Frye Mueller as the most ineffective state senator in Pierre, passing nothing, but he doubled down on it with blunders such as defending the rights of convicted sex offenders to be in classrooms, and getting kicked out of caucus trying to claim his fellow senators should actually be arrested for suspending Frye-Mueller while they investigated her harassment of a Legislative employee.
When you add those items up, the District 25 State Senate race has some potential to be an interesting contest to watch in the coming months.
Stay tuned.
Everything is leading to Jordan running for Congress in 2026.
I’m pretty sure Crabtree would defer to Youngberg.
Different districts. Crabtree lives in District 8, Youngberg now lives in District 25.
Crabtree can’t beat youngberg. I hope they don’t run against each other.
That’s funny
He’s back.
Don’t know the man, but since when is whether or nor a legislator gets bills passed the hallmark of a good legislator? What about seeking information about pending legislation, listening to constituents, and casting informed votes?
I don’t think his constituents demanded him to hold press conferences defending Frye-Mueller.
Competence has always been a measure, and Tom in the Senate has so far been a bust.
There seem to be a lot of opinions and assumptions here and the links referred to.
I’d like to hear the senators speak for themselves.
Do 30 gop senators all write Jordan a $500 check?
After this session, they may write him $1000.
Status quo doesn’t like to be challenged.
Youngberg us anything but status quote I know that for sure
Challenging can be done in a productive way. If everyone needs to be reminded youngberg carried the hemp bill and the governor was plenty against it. Year later they got it passed. So you can challenge and be productive like Youngberg. Being and obstructionist like Tom is useless and helps no one. Plain and simple, I said what I said.
That’s why big russ got Youngberg out so they could put Crabtree in.
An outstanding legislator, Dr. Heinemann, ran in a primary against Tom and lost. I doubt Youngberg could easily win.
Pischke won the District 25 primary with 45% of the votes.
Heinemann announced he was running too late; other candidates who were opposed to Pischke had already jumped in. Rave had already nailed down the endorsements in spite of having been rejected 2 years earlier by District 25 when Kris Langer dropped out. (When asked why Marsha Symens had been selected as the replacement candidate at that time, the two word answer was “Medicaid Expansion.” Rave was never a realistic candidate in District 25.)
Meanwhile Crisp was going door to door talking about how unnamed people, probably the same people who didn’t want to vote for either Pischke or Rave, had asked him to run. He was campaigning up close and personal.
Had Heinemann announced earlier, The other two likely would not have been running at all.
Pischke is vulnerable and if Youngberg does it right he can win it.