In other candidate withdrawals this month…
- Libertarian Kurt Evans of Wessington Springs withdrew his candidacy for Secretary of State on Wednesday, leaving a two-way race between Democrat Tom Cool of Sioux Falls and Trumpist Monae Johnson of Rapid City.
- Democrat Daniel Brandt of Avon withdrew from the District 19 Senate race Monday, leaving Republican Senator Kyle Schoenfish of Scotland unchallenged. If District 19 Dems don’t come up with a replacement by August 9, Schoenfish will be the 21st Republican Senate candidate facing no challenger in November. Republicans will thus need to win only three more seats to guarantee their two-thirds majority in the 97th Legislature.
- Democrats Lisa Johnsen and Mary Perpich of Brookings withdrew their candidacies for District 7 House on Friday, leaving Republican nominees Mellissa Heermann and Roger DeGroot of Brookings unchallenged.
- Democrat Paige Schroeder of Vermillion withdrew from the District 17 House race on Friday. Democrat Bekki Engquist-Schroeder of Vermillion and Republicans Chris Kassin of Vermillion and Bill Shorma of Dakota Dunes remain in the race. With the District 7 and 17 Democratic withdrawals, Republicans are now guaranteed 33 seats in the House, three shy of the 36 they need for simple majority.
SDCL 12-6-55 sets the first Tuesday in August—that’s this coming week, August 2—as the deadline for nominees to withdraw from the general election. Partisan withdrawals leave their parties with an additional week, until August 9, to name replacements.
Evans now is the owner of the enviable record of having withdrawn from more political races in which he has been nominated than any candidate in the history of candidates.
Evans is the Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr., of South Dakota runnings.
What would the late Democrat George McGovern say about all this?!? I may be an Independent Voter, but, this is ridiculous. I know what McGovern would say and I met him one time when I was at a Sioux Falls campaign event for Barack Obama in 2008. He would tell these Democrats that they will absolutely get no where in the long term if they give-up so easy. This coming from a WWII veteran who did not have blogs, Facebook and Twitter. No, it was said George had a large box of index cards he would list all of his point of contacts on as he drove across the state in his own car. You want to imagine the fuel bill he had!?! But, he did it and because he did it he was one of the most successful Democrats South Dakota has ever known. The South Dakota Democratic Party is doing great with Jamie Smith and Brian Bengs, but, why these other people do not have the tenacity to stick it out is beyond me?!?
Fundamentally contrasting liberals with conservatives:
~ We liberals find change easy to embrace while conservatives are much the contrary.
~ “Coming back to where you started isn’t the same as never leaving.” – Terry Pratchett
“90% of success is just showing up” Woody Allen
I’ve been waiting for CH to do a piece on the new Forward Party that is currently being formed nationally to make this comment but I believe there would be significant interest for that type of party here. I am afraid it will be a long time before the Democrats hold any legislative relevance here in SD.
Andrew Yang is Donald Trump/Jill Stein/Vlad Putin and that honyonker from Hungary, all rolled into the same grift. Nothing to see in this fraud that we haven’t seen before. More Lyndon LaRouche/cowbell.
Too bad. Why is there less Dems involved….Wonder what Mr. J. Abourezk thinks. He was from Wood and Mission.
Bob Newland writes:
I suspended my campaign for the U.S. Senate a few days before the 2002 election, but I still recognized the right of others to campaign and vote for me, and I wouldn’t have removed my name from the ballot even if I could have. This is the only time I’ve actually withdrawn from a race in which I’ve been nominated.
The problem is the Dems are willing to talk the talk, piss and moan,and wonder why nothing ever happens. When the walking starts they drop to their knees. This is why I am reluctant to spend any money to get them elected.
Mr. Evans. You lived right up to grudznick’s expectations.
JKL, is there any sign that Yang’s “Forward” party is organizing in South Dakota? They can’t participate in this year’s election, of course—the deadline for forming new parties is July 1. Would the Forward Party have any more luck finding candidates in South Dakota than the Democrats have? Would any of the candidates running on the SDGOP ticket be willing to give up their safe R label and run under the Forward banner in 2024?
Loti, I suspect there are fewer Dems involved because many of them have moved elsewhere. The bullying tactics of Lederman and Rhoden have worked remarkably well.
Libertarian Hedgehog Watch says Evans withdrew for personal reasons. Hedgehog Watch incorrectly states Libertarians have only until tomorrow to name a replacement; while tomorrow is the deadline for withdrawals, SDCL 12-8-6 gives parties until the second Tuesday of August, in this case August 9, to fill vacancies on the ballot.
Not to put too fine a point on it but anyone who believes Mr. Evans has the resources to finance a statewide campaign is an idiot.