South Dakota voters showed no interest in surfing the national blue wave that will check dictator Trump’s destructive power in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House.
Not one Democrat on South Dakota’s statewide ballot broke 40%. The closest to that low threshold for honorable mention was Frank Kloucek, who managed to win 39.76% of the vote for Public Utilities Commission. He campaigned passionately against corporate tool Don Haggar, but South Dakotans just won’t budge from the R column, even for the guy most in tune with their practical policy values.
The next-best percentage performance for any non-Republican running for statewide office came from independent Brian Bengs, who polled 39.50% against incumbent Republican Senator Marion Michael Rounds. That was a marked improvement over the 26% he posted in 2022 running as a Democrat against incumbent Republican Senator John Thune, but still far short of winning the opportunity to make a marked improvement to policy in Washington.
The average vote for Democrats on the statewide ballot was 37.36%. The Democrats who beat that average were, like Kloucek, all running for the second-tier constitutional offices. Raeann Mettler for School and Public Lands, Margaret Kuipers for Treasurer, and Tom Cool for Auditor all barely beat the Democratic statewide average. The two top-tier Democratic candidates both underperformed: gubernatorial candidate Dan Ahlers only won 36.50% of the vote, while U.S. House candidate Nikki Gronli won 35.99%.
The worst performance by a statewide Democratic candidate came from one who should have done better. Democratic candidate for Secretary of State Terrence Davis had the stunning cross-party endorsement of incumbent Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson. He had South Dakota’s Republican spin blog constantly slagging the Republican candidate, conspiracy theorist and hand-count nut Heather Baxter. And he had Libertarian Tamara Lesnar alongside him on the ballot to siphon conservative voters away from Baxter. But all Davis’s spending on consultants translated into only 36.50% of the vote. At 58.40%, Baxter was the only statewide Republican to poll under 60%, but that’s still a whopping margin putting her in charge of South Dakota’s elections for the next four years and sending Davis home to work on his degree from theocratic Liberty University.
Holy Kolaces.
We tried our best. We made so many friends and reunited with long time friends all across South Dakota. It was a wonderful experience that shall not be forgotten. “We not me” is the term we need to use in politics as corporate greed must be stopped, mega data centers put on hold at the very least and personal property rights be held sacred.
Thank you South Dakota for the experience of a lifetime!
Frank Kloucek Scotland SD