If you want to run for Democratic Party chair, you’re going to have to miss a crackerbarrel, not to mention a couple good debate tournaments in Rapid City and Yankton. The South Dakota Democratic Party will elect new statewide party officers on Saturday, January 26, in Oacoma:
The 2019 SDDP Officer Elections will be held in Chamberlain, South Dakota on Saturday, January 26th, 2019 at Arrowwood Resort & Conference Center, located at 1500 Shoreline Drive in Oacoma, South Dakota. The meeting will begin at 1:00 p.m. CT in the Hale-Oacoma room.
If you intend to run, please contact Sam Parkinson at sam@sddp.org for information on the election and campaigning process [Ann Tornberg, press release, South Dakota Democratic Party, 2018.11.16].
The South Dakota Democratic Party used to elect its officers in December, in time to set the agenda for raising hell during the Legislative Session. The last round of amendments to the party constitution changed the election period to “between January 1 and April 30 of odd-numbered years” (Article 6 Section 3), with new party officers starting their four-year terms on May 1 (Article 6 Section 5).
Oacoma offers the one benefit of reducing the average driving distance for individuals who may be interested in and qualified to lead the South Dakota Democratic Party are as follows:
- Billie Sutton (who raised over three million dollars and forced the Republicans to spend over 6.5 million and call for two White House interventions to hold the Governor’s seat): 65 miles
- Randy Seiler (the only other statewide Democrat to break the default 40% vote threshold): 82 miles
- Amanda Thronson and Amanda Bachmann (whose passionate organizing helped the Democratic gubernatorial candidate win Hughes County for the first time since 1972 and who run a bookstore, the perfect place for Resistance meetings): 87 miles
- Susan Kroger (whose candidate recruitment and training through LEAD South Dakota produced 40% of the first-time Democratic candidates who won seats in the Legislature): 143 miles
- Tatewin Means (whose bid for Attorney General in June drew attention from national activists): 208 miles
I invite other suggestions and drive times for party leaders. Party headquarters is in Sioux Falls, but in the 21st century, a savvy chair can run the party from any where in the state with signal and a juiced-up mobile device.
Aspiring party chairs should note that party officers are elected not by straight headcount but by the weighted county system (Article 6 Section 4). Each county’s vote is weighed by the vote total won by the Democratic candidate for Governor in the last election. Under that formula, Minnehaha County’s vote is worth 215 times as much as the vote from Harding, Campbell, or Jones County. Minnehaha’s vote is worth more than the votes of Turner, Custer, Day, Moody, Dewey, Bon Homme, Spink, and 40 other counties combined.
If every county sends a delegation to the January 26 SDDP meeting, a candidate for party office could button up the election by securing unanimous votes from the six counties where Sutton won the most votes: Minnehaha, Pennington, Lincoln, Brown Brookings, and Yankton. (There’s some fun mix and match at the bottom: one could, for instance, drop Brookings and Yankton and add Lawrence and Hughes to secure a six-county win.)
However, Dems have had trouble fielding a quorum, which at state central committee meetings consists of fourteen counties* (Article 6 Section 10). If only the fourteen counties with the strongest Sutton showing in this year’s election send delegations to the January 26 meeting, a candidate could secure the chair by winning the votes of just three counties: Minnehaha, Pennington, and one of any of the other counties in attendance.
Use this spreadsheet to check voter totals and county strength and plot your path to winning a seat as a South Dakota Democratic Party officer in 2019.
*Under the 14-county quorum rule, Democrat officials from the fourteen least Democratic counties in the state (Jones, Campbell, Harding, Haakon…) could convene a state central committee meeting and elect officials with a vote representing only 2.54% of South Dakota Democrats.
Interesting that a young Democrat lost to Turbiville in District 31. Rumor is several old white men are now charming the governor elect for his District 31 Representative seat. I’ve hesrd it’s getting mighty strange in 31.
This is one of the most thankless jobs in South Dakota politics. It’s a challenge and requires a lot of insight, patience and communications prowess. The party structure has been on life support for a very long time which is tragic since grassroots activism is the major tool to use against the SDGOP’s advantages with incumbencies, money and power over the press. Somehow Billie Sutton had the magic code to crack through a lot of that but being SDDP chair would be a poor role for him. It’s more tribal than running a campaign. The Amandas seem like the best choice among those listed.
1st, a prospective candidate need not be present to win. He/she could marshal the necessary votes in absentia and still judge debate (or possibly a beauty contest) elsewhere.
2nd, it should be noted that no county votes as a bloc. Minnehaha has a bundle, but if their voting members happen to deadlock then they carry no weight at all.
I do not think there has been a final decision made to conduct elections at the proposed 1/26/19 meeting. I believe the decision to set the election will be made at the 12/8/18 Central Committee meeting in Mitchell.
Finally, isn’t there a conflict in that SDDP announcement? The meeting is scheduled to be in Chamberlain, but the election is to be held in Oacoma. Probably picking nits, but some guy from Iowa spent a lot of time this year doing just that.
Mr. H should run. grudznick will handle the Rapid City debates for him. He know I have it under control.
I think Corey should run. I bet there are many Republicans that would throw support to. I’d love for South Dakota to see what true Democrats look like in today’s party. Corey run!
I’d love for South Dakota to see what true Democrats look like in today’s party.
You wouldn’t recognize a decent human being if he ran you over with his bike. Be vewy careful what you wish for.
Grudz, it would be interesting to co-chair a party with you. I don’t think we’d make much progress building the party, but we’d surely have fun with parly pro.
I do believe I represent a reasonably consistent approach to Democratic ideals. However, I make no claim to, by myself, represent “what Democrats look like in today’s party.”
I’d ask Steve to elaborate, but he’s not here to engage in actual discourse. He’s just here to be a jerk. Boring.