The South Dakota Democratic Party tried to get ahead of light candidate recruitment by spinning a line about contesting lots of Legislative districts. But the press and professoriate aren’t buying it. The headline is the party’s failure to fight for a majority of seats in the House and Senate:
That doesn’t bode well for the party ahead of November, said Michael Card, professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Dakota.
“It doesn’t put them in a position to actually put forward their ideological policy preferences and have much of a success at getting those enacted,” Card said.
…Statewide candidates will have less name recognition than Republican candidates ahead of the general election, since they didn’t have primaries, Card said. In the Legislature, Card said Democrats “are guaranteeing they won’t get a majority” [Makenzie Huber, “Democrats Fail to Field Candidates for a Majority of South Dakota Legislative Seats,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.04.17].
SDDP deputy exec and District 12 Senate candidate Joe Zweifel tries to put on a brave face:
He’s heard the open seats called a “failure.” But he disagrees, choosing to focus on the Democrats who did step forward.
“We’re running quality, good candidates in those races,” Zweifel said [Huber, 2026.04.17].
But that’s not really disagreeing; that’s just trying to talk about something else. Sure, Democrats have to start their long journey from powerlessness somewhere, with one win at a time. Zweifel can make a good run at victory himself, seeking the Senate seat finally properly surrendered by long-term coasting placeholder and non-achieving Republican Senator Arch Beal.
But until that win and others like it inspire enough Democrats to run and seriously contest control of the Legislature, the headlines will still concatenate “Democrats” and “Fail”.