Rumors that South Dakota District 1 Republicans would fill the vacancy on the ballot created by the withdrawal of an ineligible candidate with Joe Donnell, Sisseton, have proven to be true.
Donnell lost a primary bid to incumbent Republican state senator Michael Rohls in the June primary, but remained eligible to run in for the house seat. In South Dakota, two state representatives are elected at large in each state senate district.
At the Aberdeen American News, Elisa Sand reports in Donnell tapped to fill Republican vacancy in District 1 House race:
Republican Joe Donnell of Sisseton will appear on the November ballot as a candidate for the South Dakota Legislature, this time seeking a spot in the House of Representatives.
By a vote of 17-12, Donnell, 43, was selected as a District 1 GOP House candidate Tuesday evening in Bristol. Party officials chose between Donnell and Larry Baumgarn of Webster.
"I'm excited to move forward," Donnell said in a phone interview Thursday morning.
He said he feels this is a good time for him to run for political office and he has a passion for the people of District 1.
I can be a voice for the Native community and the farming community," he said.
Donnell runs a nonprofit organization called Warrior Circle, which helps people dealing with addictions.
He challenged incumbent Michael Rohl, R-Aberdeen, in the District 1 Senate primary in June, but lost that race.
Donnell fills one of two vacancies in House race
Donnell fills the vacancy left by Logan Manhart, R-Bath, who filed a petition to run for District 1 House, but withdrew after a lawsuit was filed challenging his residency. . . .
Manhart was one of two District 1 candidates who withdrew from the House race. Jennifer Healy Keintz, D-Eden, also withdrew and was later announced as the lieutenant governor selection for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith of Sioux Falls.
Political parties have until Aug. 8 to fill any vacancies for the November election.
Area Democrats tell Bluestem that they're working on endorsing a candidate, in line with Sand's article. Read the entire piece at the Aberdeen paper.
At the Republican site, Dakota War College, we read some of the inside GOP skinny about the choice in Joe Donnell selected to replace Logan Manhart in District 1 State Representative race, after some politicking from legislators:
Joe Donnell who lost the State Senate primary race to Michael Rohl in June has been selected to replace Logan Manhart in the District 1 House race. Manhart, who withdrew from the District 1 State Representative race earlier this summer, left a vacancy which was filled by the County Republican Central Committees which comprised District 1.
While Donnell lost the June Senate primary on a vote of 71-29%, he won the vote among committee members on a reported vote of 17-12 against Larry Baumgarn. Donnell’s win for assuming the race came after the support of a group of legislators all from outside his District, with the exception of Tamara St. John, including State Representative Sue Peterson, who is rumored to be running for a leadership position in the next iteration of the House Republican Caucus. . . .
Earlier during Donnell's senate bid, Hub City Radio noted that St. John and Donnell are cousins, as well as Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate citizens.
Donnell seems to have rebranded a campaign Facebook page as the Joe Donnell for District 1 House of Representatives page, since it goes back to April 17.
Perhaps the biggest irony in Donnell's second 2022 race is that his primary bid for the senate was targeted by PAC'n Heat, a political action committee Donnell described in a now deleted Facebook post as run by Sioux Falls liberals and anti-Native.
We agree with the second perception, in that Donnell's agreement with Bernie Sanders was related to protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Standing Rock Reservation. Check out the second scan of the anti-Donnell postcard above.
The posts about the mailing no longer appear to be on Donnell's Facebook page, nor are the original Donnell posts PAC'n Heat used to smear him.
Who is behind PAC'n Heat? Deb Peters has registered two editions of the political action committee (here and here in the South Dakota's Secretary of State's database).
In 2020, Lee Strubinger reported in How One Current, One Former Lawmaker Are Reshaping The State Legislature:
Behind the scenes of the recent primary election was a fight over South Dakota’s Republican party.
Two people, a current and former lawmaker targeted a dozen primary races. Their goal – to defeat what some call an ultra-conservative group of Republican candidates.
The stakes are high. The new lawmakers will shape the state legislature for the next decade.
State Senator Lee Schoenbeck has been around state politics for more than 40 years.
The Republican has been in and out of the state house in Pierre since 1995.
“You get to know a lot of people and get a sense for who's going to help move the process forward the best,” Schoenbeck says.
Lacking a primary challenger, Schoenbeck decided to get involved in a big way.
He raised money to support some Republican candidates over others. But his move has a larger cause – the soul of the state’s Republican party. . . .
Another person who’s out to reshape the legislature is former Republican State Senator Deb Peters. She left the legislature in December of 2018. She’s the founder of a political action committee called Pac’n Heat.
Peters targeted six primary races. Her goal – to defeat candidates who sponsored or voted for an anti-vaccination bill last session.
The vaccine issue is one that Deb Peters takes seriously.
“The anti-vaxxers are talking about it being personal choice, but the problem is there are so many people out in the community who are auto-immune,” Peters says. “Their systems can’t fight off the simple things and can’t take a vaccine. So, where’s their personal choice?”
Peters says she decided to partner with Senator Schoenbeck, to make sure the right Republican leaders are in the right place. But, Schoenbeck wasn’t the only other contributor. Pac’n Heat received $15,000 from Dana and LaDawn Dykhouse. Dana is the CEO of First Premier Bank in Sioux Falls. Former Super 8 Motel CEO Harvey Jewett also tossed dollars into the ring, both with Pac’n Heat and legislative races.
The political action committee spent nearly $10,000 on political mailers to target six different legislative races.
“I just think it’s important to have good people running and that we can protect those good people,” Peters says. . . .
It's not the first time Peters' PAC played a role in a District 1 election. At the Argus Leadre, Stu Whitney wrote in a column, Campaign mailer with misinformation 'gives politics a bad name':
. . . “Between negative campaigning and gerrymandering, it’s how they’ve gotten rid of any Democratic legislator they haven’t liked for the last 40 years,” said District 1 state senator Susan Wismer, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014, when she lost to incumbent Dennis Daugaard. . . .
Wismer, representing a northeast South Dakota district with a Democratic majority, focuses on appropriations and education issues but is being targeting with mailers calling out her support of women’s reproductive rights.
The postcard shows a photo of a newborn baby with the caption: “IN THE RACE FOR STATE SENATE, VOTE LIKE SOMEONE’S LIFE DEPENDS ON IT. BECAUSE IT DOES.”
Funding for the mailer came from PAC’N HEAT, formed by former state legislator Deb Peters, who is now chief financial officer for the South Dakota Association of Healthcare Organizations in Sioux Falls.
Lee Schoenbeck, state senator from District 5, donated $5,000 to the PAC in late May. Peters and Schoenbeck declined to comment on the mailer, which could boost Wismer’s Republican challenger, Michael Rohl.
Wismer is back on the ballot as a senate candidate, running as an independent after being bumped for an error in her filing petition.
We suggest readers in District 1 check out his newly revamped website and follow the race in traditional and social media. The Hub City Radio interview from early June, Get to know District 1 Senate candidate Joe Donnell, is a pretty good start, with Donnell discussing his ministry, his opposition to recreational marijuana and more.
Whatever one might say about Donnell, his definition of "liberal" seems a bit slack, though with all the internal squabbling in the South Dakota Republican Party, he might be on to something.
Related posts:
- News digest: Manhart pulls out of SD1 race
- Eligibility questioned, Logan Manhart withdraws from South Dakota District 1 House race
- SD SOS response to 32CIV22-92, asking SD1 House candidate's removal from ballot
- Dakota Free Press post: Manhart voted in Wisconsin in 2021, thus ineligible to run for South Dakota House in 2022
- Manhart candidate integrity questioned: docs from 32CIV22-92; McCleerey vs Barnett
- In SD District One, GOP candidate & operative doesn't want to talk to press about January 6
- Media scrutiny of SD District 1 House Logan Manhart candidate integrity questions continue
Scans: The PAC'n Heat postcard we received before the primary.
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