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Democrats Lose Four Legislative Seats; No New Dem Recruits Beat Republicans

In unspinnable bad news, South Dakota Democrats lost legislators in Pierre. We're up one Senator, but we're down five House members. That brings us to 8 out of 35 Senators and 12 out of 70 Representatives.

In the Senate, Democrats flipped seats in Districts 4, 8, and 18 (to Jim Peterson, Scott Parsley, and Bernie Hunhoff). Unfortunately, all three of those Democrats were House members, and all three saw their old seats fall to Republicans, leaving our bench thinner. Republicans flipped two Senate seats, in Districts 2 and 17 (to Brock Greenfield and Arthur Rusch).

Democrats didn't flip any seats in the House. Republicans flipped both seats in District 4 (to Fred Deutsch and John Wiik) and the single Dems seats in Districts 8, 14, and 18.

At a time when Democrats appear to need some new blood, only two out of the 44 non-incumbent Dems on Legislative ballots are taking seats: Steven D. McCleery in the District 1 House and Shawn Bordeaux in District 26A. Both of those seats were walk-ons; no non-incumbent Democrat who faced a Republican challenger won a Legislative race this year.

Wow. So tell me: is the "R" brand so powerful that even I could win a Legislative race if I just switched my registration back to Republican?

26 Comments

  1. Nick Nemec 2014.11.05

    Sadly yes Cory, as long as you could fight your way out of the Republican primary.

  2. Steve Sibson 2014.11.05

    And Republican Senator Mike Vehle ran unopposed in District 20 because the Davison County Democratic chair did not want me to run as a Democrat.

  3. grainofsalt 2014.11.05

    Well, I was told by a friends who are Dems that that was a strategy for influencing how things were done in Pierre ... even Washington.

  4. 96Tears 2014.11.05

    When deciding how to get out of the hole, first stop digging. Take measurements. Create plan and timeline for steps to climb out. Execute plan.

  5. Bill Fleming 2014.11.05

    Yes, Cory. Absolutely. A good friend of mine was told exactly that, repeatedly— and by his own opponents no less — when he ran for state legislature. Nobody could believe it when he lost, including the R's running against him.

  6. Jana 2014.11.05

    I was actually wondering if the Minnesota DFL would franchise their brand into South Dakota...kind of a mission church if you will.

  7. 96Tears 2014.11.05

    Bill and Jana, you've defined one of the big hurdles.

    You can pass Democrat ideology through ballot initiatives in South Dakota, but you can't elect the Democrat who campaigns on the same ideology. It's definitely a branding issue and getting people to connect the faces with the ideas.

    The next two to four years present great opportunities for Democrats to connect their faces to reform legislation and to play it smartly in Pierre. The bi-partisan footsie Democrats play when they are in government clearly does not advance the ball. They've got to set up the issues, produce legislation, sell it hard and loud and force the majority party to accept or reject the reforms.

    Take it from Boehner and McConnell, you don't win through compromise in this political climate.

  8. Steve Sibson 2014.11.05

    "You can pass Democrat ideology through ballot initiatives in South Dakota"

    Except for the crony capitalism ideology. People must think you guys are just as bad as the GOP. And they are right as the NEA funded the SD Chamber to stop a ballot initiative to stop the crony capitalism in Pierre during 2008.

  9. Jenny 2014.11.05

    MN GOP took back the state house. Voters want more balance and not one party control I've heard on MPR today. Why can't this happen in SD? Sigh......

  10. Steve Sibson 2014.11.05

    "I was actually wondering if the Minnesota DFL would franchise their brand into South Dakota"

    Jana, you people already have a repetition for being extreme Neo-Marxist radicals. The DFL will only make the a brighter neon. The SDGOP success is based on their ability to cover their communist lite/ fascist agenda so that free market conservatives think a planned economy is AOK. A planned economy is a Soviet Model.

  11. Jenny 2014.11.05

    Did anybody understand what Sibby just said?

  12. Roger Cornelius 2014.11.05

    Sibson is so anxious to use all labels, excuses, in one sentence he trips over his own tongue.

  13. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.11.05

    Sibson again? Grrr! Why does every post turn into Sibson-rama? Stop it!

    The Davison County Dem chair made a good call. (Arrgghh! I can't help myself!)

  14. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.11.05

    Nick, I think I might have a lot of fun in a Republican primary. Give me a moment to get into character, and I could out-Republican Mike Rounds. Maybe I'll try it. ;-)

  15. mike from iowa 2014.11.05

    Alaskans voted yes on marry jane,no on union busting and voted to give Bristol Bay more environmental protection and then voted in whack job wingnuts who are the polar opposites of the programs they voted for. HUH?

  16. Ellee Spawn 2014.11.05

    To think I came awfully close to running as an R in 12... and had the R's gotten back to me when I reached out instead of after I changed my registration to D.... which is clearly far more appropriate for my idealogy... I might have had a better shot.... Maybe I oughta change back and run as a stealth D in an R's suit when I run in '16.

  17. rollin potter 2014.11.05

    A good example Cory, IN lyman county a few years back a good friend and his family, of a person running for sherriff switched parties to vote for the person running for sherriff in the primaries and this party is now a Republican commissioner in lyman county only because he runs on the Republican ticket. If he ran as a democrat he would be sent to the showers immediately!!!!!!!

  18. Disgusted Dakotan 2014.11.05

    The political opportunist who leaned Left already left the Democratic Party and are beating honest Democrats: Dan Lederman, Larry Rhoden, Charlie Hoffman, Joni Cutler, Kyle Schoenfish, etc., etc.

  19. Tim 2014.11.05

    That's all it takes here is that R, makes no difference what you believe in or what you say or what you do, as long as you have that R. How pathetic is that?

  20. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.11.05

    Rollin, curious... why do the Republicans let this commissioner keep carrying their label? Do they not have any other R candidates in the chute? Or do partisan issues simply not come up often enough to matter at that level?

  21. caheidelberger Post author | 2014.11.05

    Oh my: is a stealth campaign really the route to revolution? Do we get gather all of our willing Democratic candidates on December 31, get them to all change their registration to R, run quietly and win in every district they can, and then vote with the Democratic caucus in Pierre? Could we pull that off?

  22. jerry 2014.11.05

    Karma will come around man, sooner or later, it will come. I certainly do not wish ill will to the state legislators, but I would like to see them wet their pants over not getting the money that will be needed to balance their fake budgets. Damn, that would be a killer for sure. You could bet the farm that Medicaid Expansion would pass in a New York second.

  23. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.11.05

    Hahahahahahahaha!

    Jana said, "I was actually wondering if the Minnesota DFL would franchise their brand into South Dakota...kind of a mission church if you will."

    As a Rev., I find this particularly funny. Thanks Jana.

  24. o 2014.11.06

    Cory, I think you are on to something happening in SD (and other states). There is a cognitive dissonance between issues voters support, and the men and women they elect to legislate for them. Maybe the days of the Republic are over and given technology and communication of the 21st center, law will be made directly through popular consent through initiated ballot measures. Maybe the model of going from community organizer to politician has the effective framework backward - we need our political leaders to be community organizers and bring issues to the voters directly, circumventing the entrenched, branded, political machinery.

  25. tara volesky 2014.11.07

    Sibby, you didn't need to listen to Dave Mitchell. You should have run against Mike Vallee as an Independent or a Democrat. The Democrat Party of Davison County, home of Senator McGovern needs someone like Sibby to shake things up.

  26. Deb Geelsdottir 2014.11.07

    O, I like your thoughts. That would be a way to at least partially circumvent the Big Money Oligarchy and bring back democracy.

Comments are closed.