A magnitude 3.7 earthquake shook the state Capitol in Pierre last week, and state Rep. Scott Odenbach (R-Spearfish) said a political earthquake had rocked the Capitol Tuesday night.
“The public is waking up,” Odenbach said.
He and others in the South Dakota Republican Party’s faction argue the party is run by politicians who are less conservative than the GOP’s base. Their efforts to change that contributed to the defeat of 14 incumbent Republicans in Tuesday’s primary. Odenbach’s political action committee Spent $58,000 Ahead of the primary election, we will support the winning candidate.
Incumbent House Majority Leader Will Mortenson, a Republican from Fort Pierre who is running unopposed for reelection, said new members are always welcome, but losing 14 incumbents comes at a cost.
“This is an opportunity to generate new ideas, but it also means a lot of institutional knowledge will be lost,” he said.
Among those lost are Republican Sen. Gene Hunhoff of Yankton, who served in the state Legislature for 24 years, and Republican Sen. Ryan Maher of Isabel, who served for 16 years.
Mortenson Political Action Committee Spent $48,271 help Some of the current employees Other candidates mentioned by Odenbach Opposed.
Mortenson blamed the incumbent’s defeat primarily on a historically low voter turnout of 17 percent, which he said created an environment in which motivated factions could rally together enough voters to swing the outcome of the primary.
Pipelines and Property Taxes
Odenbach said the challengers won because of high-quality candidate recruitment, good ground work and good messaging.
Much of that messaging capitalized on opposition to Summit Carbon Solutions’ proposal, particularly in eastern South Dakota. Multi-billion dollar pipeline projectsThe plan would capture carbon dioxide produced at ethanol plants in South Dakota and other states and transport it in underground pipelines through farms, ranches and other private property to North Dakota for sequestration.
Republican incumbents suffer defeat as pipelines and property rights come to forefront
The project has sparked more than two years of legal and legislative wrangling over landowners’ rights and the power of eminent domain, a legal tool that allows corporations to expropriate property for public-interest projects.
“Many candidates have said South Dakota is open for business but not open for selling, and last night that was proven,” Odenbach said.
Mortenson and other Republican leaders The bill was passed During the last legislative session, the party proposed maintaining the pipeline regulatory path to ensure landowners had additional protections. That proposal put it at odds with some in the party who wanted tougher measures, such as a ban on eminent domain for carbon pipelines. Some members of the party are collecting petition signatures to put a bill passed last session on a referendum in November.
Odenbach said the pipeline debate is not over yet.
“As I tried to do last session, next session I’m going to come back to more clearly define public use and who can exercise eminent domain in South Dakota,” he said.
Incumbent Rep. Aaron Aylward (R-Harrisburg), who heads the South Dakota Freedom Caucus and has been at odds with Republican leadership, won the primary. Regarding pipelines, he said, “The carbon pipeline situation is certainly not good.”
Aylward said the incumbents were defeated on Tuesday because “people are tired of the same type of bureaucratic crap policies they’ve been subjected to for the last few years.”
Meanwhile, in the Black Hills, property tax hikes have energized many Republicans. Former Rep. Tim Goodwin of Rapid City was elected Tuesday as one of two Republican candidates for House District 30. Goodwin and incumbent Rep. Trish Radnor of Hot Springs will face off against one Democratic candidate in the November election for two House seats.
“Property rights aren’t being taken into consideration here,” Goodwin said. “It’s all about property taxes.”
Promoting open primary elections
Some Republicans see the intraparty division as self-defeating. Pat Powers, writer for the Dakota War College political blog, said Tuesday’s primary results give Democrats a chance to win some general elections if they run to the middle of the political spectrum. Democrats currently hold just 11 of the state’s 105 seats in the Legislature.
“This could very well be a turning point in the fortunes of the Republican Party,” Powers said.
Powers said the GOP infighting also increases the likelihood of passing an open primary ballot measure in the November general election, which would change some primaries to include all candidates running for office, rather than splitting them into party-based primaries.
Powers said Tuesday’s low voter turnout and poor performance by incumbents will give supporters of open primaries ammunition.
“They can say, ‘Look what happens if we don’t have an open primary,’ and they have the resources to spread that message.”
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Dorey Samuelson, a longtime chief of staff to former Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, is involved in the open primary effort and has already made the case.
“A closed primary system doesn’t work very well because it nominates people at the extreme ends of the party,” Samuelson said. “You can see that in the results of this primary.”
Samuelson said turnout would have been higher if Democrats and independents had more to vote in than the Democratic presidential primary, which President Joe Biden is all but certain to win. South Dakota had just one Democratic congressional primary and 44 Republican congressional primaries on Tuesday.
Seeking change “for ordinary people”
Joy Horn, a vocal opponent of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines, was elected as the Republican candidate in the Sioux Falls 9th Senate race, defeating former Rep. Mark Willadsen. There are no Democrats or independents running in the general election.
Horne received a donation from Odenbach’s political action committee.
“I think South Dakotans feel like there needs to be more of a focus on ‘we the people,'” Horn said. “We really don’t need this pipeline.”
Horn said the election results are moving the state in the right direction.We will defend true conservative values and the principles on which our country was founded.”
Republican factions vying for control of the party in Tuesday’s primary election
Incumbent Sen. Erin Tobin (R-Weiner) lost by 48 votes (within the range that could lead to a recount) to Mikala Vojta, a newcomer from Bonesteel who also campaigned on prioritizing landowner rights.
“The people of South Dakota are drawing the line and speaking up,” Vojta said. “I think they’re sending a clear message that they don’t want to be trampled on, and if they’re coming to our state, they’re going to follow our rules.”
In the four-way 13th District House primary, incumbent Republican Tony WenhuizenThe Sioux Falls native entered the general election as one of the top two candidates, but received fewer votes than newcomer John Hughes. There are no Democrats or independents running in the November election.
Hughes intends to drive change.
“Government is not working for the average South Dakotan, especially when it comes to economic development,” Hughes said. “The government is not making big corporations pay their fair share by coming into South Dakota and taking advantage of our business environment, but the big corporations are making profits and it’s at the expense of taxpayers.”
Expelled Republicans
Here are the Republicans who lost in Tuesday’s primary, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s office (results are not official until the election results are counted):
- Senator Erin Tobin (R-Wiener)
- Sen. Jan Humhoff (R-Yankton)
- Rep. Byron Callies (R-Watertown)
- Rep. Tyler Toedsen (R-Sioux Falls)
- Rep. Tamara St. John (R-Sisseton)
- Rep. James Wangsness (R-Miller)
- Rep. Fred Deutsch (R-Florence)
- Sen. Ryan Maher (R-Isabel)
- Rep. Becky Drury (R-Rapid City)
- Sen. Mike Walsh (R-Rapid City)
- Sen. David Johnson (R-Rapid City)
- Rep. Gary Cammack (R-Union Center)
- Rep. Kirk Chafee (R-Whitewood)
- Sen. Julie Frey Mueller (R-Rapid City)
