Bumbling Republican election denier Monae Johnson announced her intention to seek reëlection as Secretary of State back in January. Hoping to intrude on Johnson’s bid to keep fouling elections and cashing into the state retirement fund is Democratic newcomer Terrence Davis:
Davis, 39, announced his campaign on Friday. He is a husband and father and currently works at East River Legal Services. He has degrees in criminal justice and public policy, and is pursing his doctorate in policy and law.
Davis was a state trooper in South Dakota and Tennessee.
According to a news release, Davis’ plans to lead with transparency, accountability and plans to “put people before politics.” His policies include fighting for 16-year-olds with a driver’s license to pre-register to vote and establishing an investigative division inside the South Dakota Secretary of State’s office, dedicated to investigating fraudulent activities [Gracie Terrall, “Former State Trooper Running for Secretary of State,” KELO-TV, 2025.08.13].
“Investigating fraudulent activities” appears under the Election heading on his website, so I wonder: is Davis pandering to the deluded wingnuts who elected Monae but are now mad that she’s not doing more to get rid of rigged voting machines? Careful, Candidate Davis—don’t let the loonies lure you into perpetuating myths.
But maybe Davis is just talking about upping the Secretary of State’s game in campaign finance and petition investigation. South Dakota has no campaign finance cops and no petition cops. Maybe Davis just wants the office to live up to the “compelling interest” that the state claims it has in petition integrity and take the burden of investigating petition fraud off private investigators. Pair that idea with another campaign goal, “offering more efficient and accessible services by modernizing our division’s operations and systems,” and maybe Davis will start talking about adopting online electronic petitions, like Utah has! Taking signatures online would allow for instantaneous validation, allowing signers and petitioners to know immediately whether each signature counts, allowing campaigners to know immediately how many valid signatures they have and how many more they need to qualify their ballot measures and candidates for the ballot, and obviating any alleged need for earlier petition deadlines to facilitate petition challenges by initiative-hating lawyers and special interests like Jon Hansen. (Terrence, give me a call—let’s talk real modernization and petition reform!)
KELO-TV’s report says “If Davis is chosen as the democratic candidate after the June primaries, he may run against republican incumbent Monae Johnson, who has held the seat since 2022.” which is puzzling in two ways. One, KELO-TV’s spellcheck appears disinclined to capitalize party names. Two, mentioning the primary may confuse voters. Secretary of State is one of the eight* non-gubernatorial state offices for which parties nominate candidates at convention rather than through primary election. Reporter Terrall does refer to choosing candidates “after the June primaries,” but it would be more clear to note that, for now, Davis, Johnson, and anyone else who’d like to run South Dakota’s elections are seeking the votes not of the general public but of a few hundred dedicated party activists who will pick their candidates for Secretary of State next summer.
*Election Trivia: The eight state offices for which candidates are nominated at convention are Secretary of State, Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor, Commissioner of School and Public Lands, and the three seats on the Public Utilities Commission. We used to pick Lieutenant Governor candidates at convention as well, but the Legislature finally changed that this year with House Bill 1164, which struck LG from SDCL 12-5-21 and gave gubernatorial candidates sole legal authority to pick their running mates. The legislators who voted against this sensible innovation were mostly the Republican wingnuts who riled the 2022 SDGOP convention by trying to nominate Steven Haugaard for LG against Kristi Noem’s pick, Larry Rhoden.