Update 17:03 CDT: Between breakfast and close of business today, Secretary of State Monae Johnson added four Democratic candidates to the official list! I am editing this post to reflect those new entries.
If the South Dakota Democratic Party had candidates running for seats in 83% of South Dakota’s Legislative districts a couple weeks ago, a few of those candidates may have changed their minds. As of 5 p.m. today, the Secretary of State’s primary candidate website shows only 45 Democrats running for House or Senate seats in 28 districts. That’s 80% of the 35 districts into which South Dakota is gerrymandered.
If today’s figures hold, the South Dakota Democratic Party may claim progress over 2024, when Democrats appeared on the general election ballot for Legislative seats in 25 districts, 71% of the 35.
But by seat count, Democrats have retreated. Democrats have fielded full slates of candidates—at least one for Senate and two for House—in only four Districts: 10, 15, 18, and 26.
Democratic candidates are contending for 12 Senate seats, down from 16 in 2024. That’s only 34% of the Senate’s 35 seats. 12 Senate candidates is nonetheless an important number: 12 is just over one third of the Senate, enough to block spending bills and emergency clauses and wage other parliamentary mischief against the majority party. But winning 12 seats means winning every seat Democrats are contesting, including seats held by powerful incumbents in Districts 11 (Karr), 13 (Peterson), 19 (Schoenfish), 32 (Duhamel), and 34 (Howard).
Democratic candidates have filed for 32 seats in the House, up from 31 in 2024. That’s 43% of the House’s 70 seats, enough if all of them won to block measures requiring a two-thirds vote, but still four seats shy of a majority.
Petitions were due in the Secretary of State’s office by 5 p.m. Central Tuesday, March 31. The Secretary of State may still be processing some petitions and waiting for petitions that were sent by registered mail before the deadline. But as of this evening, it appears the South Dakota Democratic Party is once again conceding control of the Legislature to Republicans before any votes are cast. And so far, only 44 Democrats are officially running for Legislature, down from 47 who appeared on the general election ballot in 2024.
Democrats last had a mathematical chance of blocking Republican control of a chamber in 2022, when the SDDP managed to put 35 House candidates on the general election ballot. Democrats ran for and 43 House seats in 2020. In 2018, 32 Democrats ran for Senate and 65 ran for House. It has thus been eight years since Democrats fielded enough candidates to have a shot at majorities in both chambers.
Democrats have one Senate primary, in District 26, where Troy “Luke” Linderman is trying to prevent Shawn Bordeaux’s bid to return to Pierre. Democrats have no House primaries.
Republicans are running candidates for Senate in every district. They have 60 Senate candidates, triggering Senate primaries in 24 districts.
Republicans have filed to run for all but two House seats, leaving both seats in District 27 unchallenged… but so far, the SOS has certified no Democratic petitions for District 27 House. The GOP has 110 House candidates, sparking primaries in 27 districts.
Less Democrats more Rinos. Same old, same old. Six of one sort of thing.
Convince either Brian Bengs or Julian Beaudion to drop out.
It would be a blast to see giant Brian Bengs standing next to short guy Earth hater, Reich Mike Rounds.