Angry-dad Senator Tom Pischke is out! Or at least he will after the general election, from which the alleged petition-forger has bailed:
Republican South Dakota state Sen. Tom Pischke, of Dell Rapids, ended his reelection campaign Tuesday as he continues to face felony charges for allegedly filing false or forged election-related documents.
…Pischke’s withdrawal comes more than a month after prosecutors charged him with two felony counts alleging he submitted 16 candidate petitions for Minnehaha County Republican precinct committee positions without the candidates’ knowledge.
…Pischke’s withdrawal leaves Republicans searching for a replacement candidate ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Republican county party central committee members who reside in his district have until Aug. 11 to make a selection [Joshua Haiar, “South Dakota State Senator Facing Election-Related Criminal Charges Ends His Reelection Campaign,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.07.28].
But what if Republican officials don’t name a replacement? The only man left on the District 25 Senate ballot, Bryan Breitling, is a former Republican legislator running as an “independent”, but he has the backing of former Governor and Dell Rapids neighbor Dennis Daugaard. Breitling is also a bigwig at Avera Health and in the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations, a big lobbying force in Pierre. The powerful Republicans pushing for Breitling to replace Pischke may well tell the Minnehaha County District 25-residing GOP board members to leave the Republican ballot slot blank and focus their energies elsewhere.
I celebrate the departure of Pischke from Leigslative politics. I would lament the absence of a contest for the DIstrict 25 Senate seat. The District 25 House seats are already decided: Republicans Carrie Sanderson and Nick Buchholz beat Bart Sample in the primary and face no Democratic, independent, or Libertarian challengers in the general election. The failure of the Minnehaha District 25 GOP leaders to name a Republican replacement to challenge Breitling would leave District 25 with no Legislative contests on which to vote. But capitulation of the local GOP leaders to a mainstream statewide Republican machine that has flexed its muscle with numerous Legislative primary wins and now Governor Larry Rhoden’s resounding pounding of upstart challenger Toby Doeden in Tuesday’s runoff suggests that Republicans who know which way the wind is blowing will let Pischke’s withdrawal mark the end of the battle for the District 25 Senate seat.