Well, I guess South Dakota Republicans are that stupid. In yesterday’s primary, more than three quarters of Republican voters said Congressman Dusty Johnson, the smartest policymaker and most dedicated and energetic party builder running for Governor this year, said someone else would do a better job of running South Dakota:
With all but one precinct counted, stinking rich car salesman and booze peddler Toby Doeden has 31% of the Republican vote, followed by plodding incumbent Larry Rhoden at 25%. Johnson is coming in third at 23%, only slightly more popular among the Republicans he has so loyally and ably served than bumbling theocrat Speaker Jon Hansen at 21%.
Interestingly, self-funding millionaire Doeden’s win actually signals that money isn’t everything. As of the pre-primary reports two weeks ago, Johnson had raised almost twice as much campaign cash as Doeden and more than six times as much as Rhoden, yet Doeden and Rhoden both won more votes than the biggest spender. Hansen raised less than a tenth of what Johnson did but still won nearly 90% as many votes as Johnson.
Republicans do have the chance to redeem themselves from picking their worst gubernatorial nominee since… well, since Kristi Noem. (Yeah, this is the same party that elevated a petty, made-up cowgirl over qualified Republicans like Marty Jackley and Chris Nelson, and the same party that picked Jason Ravnsborg for Attorney General, so why am I surprised at the SDGOP’s continued kakistocracy?) Doeden has fallen short of the 35% necessary to clinch the nomination and thus must face Larry Rhoden in a runoff eight weeks from now, on Tuesday, July 28. The Republican establishment thus has a chance to rally around Rhoden, who at least has experience getting hard things done in Pierre and won’t blow up state government in a fit of Trumpist pique.
On the bright side, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Ahlers can watch with glee as Doeden and Rhoden spend another two months necessarily ignoring him and burning their cash slagging each other. On the dim side, the media and voters will also spend the next two months ignoring Ahlers, focusing instead on this first-ever statewide runoff election and leaving Ahlers as the final-line asterisk in every campaign story—”The winner of the runoff will face Democratic nominee Dan Ahlers in November.”
On the lighter side, this historic runoff has great headline branding: “Doeden/Rhoden Runoff”—it rhymes! It alliterates! It sounds great to the tune of “Hungry Hungry Hippos!”
But the overarching grim reality is that South Dakota Republicans have passed up the chance to nominate a Governor of Daugaardian intellect, Mickelsonian decency, and Kneipian youth and enthusiasm. Instead they’ve chosen an inexperienced blowhard and a boring old cowboy.