Seiler Wins Unexpected Election to State Democratic Vice-Chair

Randy Seiler didn’t come to Oacoma Saturday looking for another job. He’s got plenty to do: in his “retirement” from the U.S. Attorney’s office, he has served as inteirm and deputy state’s attorney for Hughes County, he spent six months running for Attorney General, and he’s now lawyering for the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Sioux tribes and rewriting Lower Brule’s whole law and order code. Seiler just came to enjoy lunch at Al’s Oasis and nominate his friend Tom Cool for South Dakota Democratic Party chair

But after Paula Hawks won the chair in a landslide second-round election, Seiler ended up with another job: party vice-chair.

Hawks had campaigned for chair with Sioux Falls mover and shaker Jack Mortenson. Incumbent chair Ann Tornberg had designated former Pickstown legislator Larry Lucas as her running mate. Upon Hawks’s triumph, Lucas withdrew his name from consideration.

Democratic National Committee rules dictate that state party and vice-chair cannot be of the same sex, so Tom Cool’s running mate, Alexandra Frederick, could not run to be Hawks’s vice-chair.

Eagle Butte High School senior and Boys’ Nation delegate Oliver Miner joined the running for vice-chair. Cool and fellow losing chair candidate John Kennedy Claussen were also nominated.

And then central committee members eyes turned to the back of the room, where a cluster of Dems had buttonholed Randy Seiler by the water table. After bating our breath for a few seconds, Pennington County Democrat Curt Pochardt nominated Seiler for vice-chair. SDDP exec and ad hoc meeting chair Sam Parkinson asked Seiler if if accepted the nomination.

More bated breath. No empty kibbutzing. All eyes on Seiler. My fingers hovering over my Twitter keys….

Seiler accepted the nomination. Applause erupted. Cool and Claussen withdrew.

Chair-elect Hawks rose amidst this drama to introduce Mortenson. She asked that the central committee extend to her running mate the same trust they extended to her.

Mortenson then read his prepared speech, a really good speech about how, as a teacher, his “greatest joy is helping people learn,” about how our party leaders’ role is to empower Democrats and to bring hope to “the needy, the other, the downtrodden, and the lost.” He did set off my alarm bells by saying we must stop fighting Republicans because there are too many to fight—nuts to that! We should fight every thoughtless GOP partisan who upholds the incompetent tyranny of Donald Trump and the pageant-queen fascism of Kristi Noem!—but he offered the reasonable alternative of focusing on reaching out to all South Dakotans with a coherent, progressive agenda. Mortenson also urged upgrading our visuals and our website.

Lawrence County activist Brooke Abdallah spoke for Seiler, emphasizing that he is a great mentor for young Democrats like her, makes connections with everybody, and was the strongest fundraiser among our 2018 second-tier statewide candidates.

Seiler then rose with no script, because he did not expect to be making a campaign speech on this day. He did a pretty good job of repeating the campaign speech he made for six months last year. He likened the dedication he showed earlier in his life living close to his aging parents to the dedication he would bring to this party position.

Seiler did say, as the SDGOP spin machine notes with gleeful hopes of sowing division, that he would not give unwavering, unquestioning support to every position the Democratic Party takes. I could see that line as a quick way to lose votes at a Democratic Party meeting, and maybe one of the angels sitting on Seiler’s shoulders suggested that line to jar voters out of whatever emotion drove his surprise nomination and take that unsought cup from his lips. But Seiler wasn’t taking a dig at any particular wing of the Democratic Party. I’m willing to say he was not suggesting the sort of Republican-Lite-ism that will lead to Democratic defeat every time. He was laying out his core values: “…fairness, equality, and justice… that’s what I want to fight for.” And a guy who confidently puts values first, party second, should be exactly the kind of guy who can make Democrats proud, independents interested, and Republicans nervous.

Ally Moran introduced Miner in Lakota and said he was running to create space for youth at the political table. Miner himself opened his speech in South Dakota’s native tongue, then said he was not running to be vice chair but simply seeking an opportunity to address a roomful of activists that had far too few young people and far too many empty chairs. Miner asked the 33 county parties present what they can do to involve more young people. He urged every party member present to mentor young people. He called for creation of a youth council to encourage participation in Democratic politics.

With those manful words, Miner withdrew his name from consideration, wished Mortenson and Seiler luck, and called his suddenly not-opponents “phenomenal” candidates.

Pilamaya, Miner concluded.

Pilamaya, Mr. Miner. Waste. Pilamaya.

Seiler won the election. I missed the vote total—if it was given, I was focused on collecting petition signatures and recruiting circulators. Some journalist, huh?

Come May 1, the South Dakota Democratic Party will be led by a still youngish (my age?) mom from Minnehaha County and a 70-something prosecutor from Stanley County. Both are energetic and strong-willed leaders. Both will have strong conversations with each other and with all Democrats about how to raise the Titanic (or the Minnow, take your pick, have fun with your metaphors).

Hawks expected to do this job; Seiler did not. Both will do it well.