SDDP adding staffers, lobbying Biden and Harris to fill judgeships, and optimistic about party’s future
Shane Merrill is fired up.
The chairman of the beleaguered South Dakota Democratic Party sees better days ahead.
“Two new staffers came on yesterday, we are barnstorming the state meeting county party leaders, fundraising is up, recruiting candidates, I met with VP Harris a month ago in St. Louis, Dan (executive director Ahlers) I are meeting with Biden in DC in 2 weeks,” he texted me recently. “Things looking positive! Kinda fun for a farm kid from Parker.”
Merrill is determined to make the SDDP competitive and to give South Dakota voters a choice. That’s taken him to some high-profile places recently.
Merrill and his girlfriend Katie Wagner (seen above at the White House in a photo posted on Merrill’s Facebook page last Saturday, 12/16) and SDDP Executive Director Dan Ahlers and his wife Amy attended a holiday reception at the White House Friday afternoon. In addition to enjoying the historic setting, the food and the drink, they got to hear President Biden speak for a few minutes.
The South Dakota Democratic leaders didn’t get to talk with Biden, but they did send a message to him: Fill the two vacant federal judge positions open in the state.
On Oct. 1, 2021, Judge Jeffrey Viken of Rapid City moved to senior status, reducing his workload. He retired completely this October. Almost a year ago, District Judge Karen Schreier of Sioux Falls announced her intention to move to a reduced role.
“We’re trying to get those judges positions filled,” Merrill said. “That’s been our top priority.”
This fall, Merrill spoke to Vice President Kamala Harris and two of her aides about the need to name judges
“And of course, they assured us they would,” he said.
Lobbying top government officials is a sign of how far Merrill has come in recent months. The SDDP was wrapped in turmoil for months.
Merrill is hoping for some shinier media coverage than what the SDDP endured this summer with the chaos over the removal of Chair Jennifer Slaight-Hansen. Merrill, who was the vice chair, was elected to the top job in September and teamed with Ahlers, who clashed bitterly with Slaight-Hansen, to try to get the party back on track.
Ahlers actually resigned this summer, but he told me this fall he never really left the SDDP. He kept going to work, and emerged as the victor in the power struggle with Slaight-Hansen, a former Aberdeen City Council member who had a lot of ideas for the party but not the support needed to make them happen.
Merrill said he and Vice Chair Jessica Meyers have forged a good working relationship with Ahlers. Meyers and Ahlers recently toured West River, trying to revitalize county parties and finding local Democrats willing to help pull the SDDP out of the steep ditch it has been in recently.
She ran for the South Dakota Senate from District 12 in 2022, and she has made reinvigorating college and young Democrats a goal, Merrill said.
“She has been working really hard on building that base back up,” he said.
Former SDDP Executive Director Berk Ehrmantrout will play a major role in ensuring that segment of voters is connected to the party, Merrill said. That’s something that had been allowed to wither, and it needed to be fixed.
The South Dakota Democratic Party also hired a veteran journalist, Krista Burns, as its new communications director.
“She is an Emmy-award winning news producer with 13 years of experience in TV news in South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin,” according to a party release. “Most recently, she was a news producer for the past seven years for KELOLAND Media Group in Sioux Falls.”
Burns grew up in Eagan, Minn., and received a bachelor of arts degree in broadcast journalism from South Dakota State University. While working at KELO, she helped organize several charity events, including raising money for the Sioux Empire United Way.
Merrill said having someone to produce regular press releases, work with the media and raise awareness of the SDDP will be beneficial.
Joseph Zweifel is the party’s new field director. He worked for Donn Larson, who ran for the District 16 Senate seat in 2022, and was a leader in the Lincoln County Democratic Party and served two terms on the SDDP Executive Board.
“Joseph comes to us with a vast amount of experience and knowledge when it comes to politics. He first got started working on the Herseth, Obama, and Clinton campaigns canvassing right here in South Dakota,” an SDDP release stated. “Born and raised on a fourth-generation farm and in a rural community, Joseph brings a unique niche of focus, knowledge and experience for all of South Dakota.”
Ahlers, who told me in October he was close to adding the staffers, said he is happy with this team.
“The South Dakota Democratic Party is committed to improving its messaging and support for its county, state and elected officials,” he said in a release. “Krista’s and Joe’s experience and professionalism will be an asset for the South Dakota Democratic Party.”
South Dakota state Sen. Reynold Nesiba and state Rep. Oren Lesmeister, along with their wives Erika and Tracy, attended a holiday reception at the White House the first week of December. President and first lady Dr. Jill Biden have put in long hours shaking hands, smiling and posing for photos with politicians, regular people and even the press in recent days, and Rep. Lesmeister and his wife Tracy were able to get a selfie with President Biden.
The legislative leaders said they were “in awe of the holiday decorations as well as the military band that played during the event. Lesmeister said it was one of the greatest highlights of his legislative career so far, according to an SDDP release.
“Once inside, I found myself staring more and more at the architecture and the paintings and pictures on the walls of former presidents and first ladies, and thinking to myself about how many world leaders have been in the same area I was standing in,” he said.
Nesiba and Lesmeister met with several state and tribal officials from across the country, including former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat and close advisor to the Clintons. But it was the current president that impressed the South Dakotans.
“President Biden’s main message was simply ‘thank you’,” Sen. Nesiba said. “He said that city, county, state and tribal leaders are on the front line of meeting constituent needs. The president said he wanted the federal government to ‘be helpful, not hurtful’ in helping us do the work we do.”
Merrill said there has been a flurry of activity and that needs to continue. Candidate recruitment is a priority along with fundraising, he said.
The party is talking to two, maybe three potential candidates to run against Rep. Dusty Johnson for Congress in 2024. Johnson was unopposed in both 2020 and 2022, and Merrill said the Democrats need to find someone who can run a credible race.
“That’s our goal,” he said.
It will take a lot of hands pulling together to make a difference, Merrill said.
“It’s been a total 180 really,” he said. “Slow steps but we’re running fast. It’s a total team effort. There is a second party, and we are alive and well. We’re hitting the ground running.”
Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states and contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets.
