S.D. Democratic Party officials look back on another rough election night, hope for better days in the future
It was yet another painful election night for the South Dakota Democratic Party.
The SDDP somehow lost seats in the South Dakota Legislature, going from 11 members in the 105-seat body to nine. They will have just three state senators out of 35 and six state representatives out of 70.
Two Democratic incumbents, state Sen. Shawn Bordeaux of Mission and state Rep. Kameron Nelson of Sioux Falls, were defeated. Carl Petersen of Parade lost in District 28A to replace the retiring state Rep. Oren Lesmeister of Parade.
Congressional candidate Sheryl Johnson was swamped by U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, losing nearly 3-1. Public Utilities Commission candidate Forrest Wilson was virtually invisible all year and never put up a fight against Republican incumbent Kristie Fiegen, losing by more than 40 points.
Former and future President Donald J. Trump swept to victory in South Dakota for the third straight election. It’s now been 60 years since a Democrat, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, carried the state.
It was, yet again, a terrible night to be a Democrat in South Dakota.
On Thursday, South Dakota Democratic Party Chair Shane Merrill and Vice Chair Jessica Meyers issued these statements:
“While both the presidential and local races were not the outcomes the South Dakota Democratic Party was hoping for, we are still celebrating wins from Tuesday’s election,” Merrill said. “Nicole Uhre-Balk was elected as the state representative for District 32, flipping a GOP stronghold in Rapid City. Voters also defeated Amendment H, protecting our primary elections.”
“We saw more people step up to run for office, out-raised the South Dakota Republican Party and more people registered as Democrats. I am proud of every Democratic candidate who ran in this election, putting in the hard work to be a voice for their communities,” he said. “You showed strength and dedication, proving that South Dakota Democrats are resilient. I want to congratulate all of our candidates who won their races. Now, we look ahead to the legislative session, helping Democratic legislators craft bills that will benefit all South Dakotans. We will bring people from all walks of life to the table to unite and build a brighter future for our state.”
Meyers also chose to look ahead, not behind.
“The work of the South Dakota Democratic Party is just beginning,” she said. “The results of the 2024 election are a lesson for our party and for Democrats across the country. We will learn from our losses and start to build a stronger party. We need to reach out to our neighbors to better understand their struggles and the future they want for our state and country.
“We need to encourage more people, especially young South Dakotans, to get involved in politics,” Meyers said. “Our fight is far from over — we will defend the most vulnerable people in our communities, call out injustice and protect your freedoms. We have a lot of hard work to do in the coming years, but we are committed to making South Dakota a safe and prosperous place for everyone.”
Merrill amplified his thoughts in an email exchange with me. I asked him his thoughts on Trump returning to power.
“It’s disheartening, we have seen this show before, and I worry the sequel may be worse than the first time,” he said. “I hope I am wrong, but it is definitely disheartening.”
Merrill was not pointing a finger to blame Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost and did not visit many states, including South Dakota. Should she have tried a different strategy?
“There will be plenty of time for second-guessing and Monday-morning quarterbacking, but she ran a fine race with how little time she had,” he said.
Do you think democracy itself is at risk? I hope not, but time will tell.”
Merrill said the SDDP has an opportunity to triumph in future elections.
“Yes, we can rebound both nationally and locally, I look at 2018 and we did well,” he said. “Things could potentially set up that way again. There is a deep Democratic bench: Shapiro, Beshear, Newsom, Whitmer.”
Those are potential national candidates. How about South Dakota? What does the party plan to try in upcoming campaigns?
“It is extremely hard to run as a Democrat, particularly in South Dakota and especially in this cycle,” Merrill said. “Our neighboring states lost Democratic seats as well — it was a widespread wave. Sheryl ran a great race with a limited budget against a tough opponent. She deserves gratitude for stepping up to the challenge and representing the people and party on the ticket.”
Was there anything you could have done differently, I asked.
“This is a tough question, once again there is always Monday-morning quarterbacking, but we had some great candidates in key areas and it just wasn’t in our favor,” Merrill said. “Our counties’ parties and state party fundraised like we haven’t in years. We registered more voters than we have in a decade. We knocked doors, put out signs and passed out our literature and our candidates worked so hard. It’s disappointing, to say the least.”
How tough is it to recruit candidates and raise money?
“This cycle certainly won’t make it any easier, but we will persevere. We are the South Dakota Democrats and we have been through worse before,” he said. “Our best hope is to keep moving forward on some of the favorable things we had started, (fundraising and registering voters). We will also look to win back the seats we need to win next cycle. There will also be more statewide races, and with the governor potentially getting an appointment in the new administration it could set up interesting races statewide as well as for the Legislature.
“I know with this being my first cycle as chair, along with our vice chair, Dan (Ahlers) as executive director and our staff, we accomplished some good things behind the scenes, unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get us over the top,” Merrill said. “We will continue to work hard for the Democrats in SD as we look to bring a balance back to this state.”
Ahlers chose to look at the positives. And yes, there were some.
“Critics can focus on the loss of two legislative seats this cycle, but there were many positive things that happened this year for the SD Democratic Party,” he told me. “We picked up several city council and county commission seats. We won a legislative seat in District 32 in Rapid City. We haven’t won a seat there since 2006 with Tom Katus.”
I covered Katus’ win in Rapid City. He was aided by a split among the Republicans, as state Sen. Stan Adelstein, a moderate, was defeated by Elli Schwiesow, a staunch conservative, in the 2006 primary. Adelstein then endorsed Katus and campaigned for him.
However, a few days after the election, he told Katus he would run against him in 2008. He did, defeating him and ending his legislative career after a single term.
“The state party out-fundraised the Republican Party this year five months in a row. Our legislative candidates did a great job fundraising and campaigning, too,” Ahlers said. “We had a lot of great volunteers who worked hard on campaigns and GOTV (Get Out The Vote). Our Democratic voter registration increased by more than 2,000 voters since July. Even after the election on Tuesday, there is still a lot of excitement and people calling us to get involved.
“There is always more work to do and things we can improve,” he said. “The SD Democratic Party will build on our successes and learn from the losses. As we build a better operation, we will continue to get better results.”
Fourth-generation South Dakotan Tom Lawrence has written for several newspapers and websites in South Dakota and other states for four decades. He has contributed to The New York Times, NPR, The London Telegraph, The Daily Beast and other media outlets. Do not republish without permission.
