The District 4 candidates for House staked out differing positions on data centers at a forum in Watertown last night.
Democratic newcomer Emelia Enquist from Revillo expressed the clearest policy principles on the issue, saying she wants to protect the environment, the public, and the public purse first:
“I want the legislature to work on protecting the environment and the people’s rights far above the interest of the companies potentially interested in bringing data centers in,” Enquist said, adding that the companies do not deserve special tax breaks [Steve Jurrens, “Watertown Candidate Forum Highlights Data Center Debate, School Funding, and Codington County Auditor Race,” Northeast Radio SD, 2026.10.06].
Independent Samuel Froehlke from Toronto took a harder line, saying the market doesn’t justify more data centers:
“It’s speculative. It’s a bubble. It’s a foolish investment,” Froehlke said. “There is not a real market big enough to justify how much money is being spent on these” [Jurrens, 2026.10.06].
Republicans Ryan Kohl of Milbank and Fred Deutsch of Florence both hid behind the skirt of local control, which Republicans invoke selectively when they want to avoid taking a real stand. Deutsch stuck with the fully safe dodge:
“I don’t want them where people don’t want them,” Deutsch said. “So I like to have local control over it.”
Kohl went as far as to indicate he’d subsidize the tax-dodging billionaires building data centers:
“If a community wants to look at this as an avenue of development, as an avenue of diversifying their economy, yes, the state can help out,” Kohl said. “If the communities do not want it, if the counties don’t want it, yeah, the county should have the right to say no” [Jurrens, 2026.10.06].
If you want South Dakota to subsidize building Skynet and destroying humanity under the lazy smiling guise of local control, vote Republican for District 4 House. If you’d like to put people first, vote Democratic and independent.