A South Dakota Searchlight story, New landscape confronts South Dakota Republicans after political earthquake shakes incumbents provides a broader context for the news digest about the results of the Republican primary here in South Dakota District 1.
Here's a digest of news from one of the tremors in that earthquake.
On June 1, Bluestem had posted South Dakota District 1 GOP House primary news round-up: carbon pipeline politics major issue.
That headline foreshadowed that in the Searchlight's report, Incumbent Republican legislators suffer losses as pipelines and property rights surge to the fore. Looking to District 1,John Hult, Joshua Haiar and Seth Tupper reported:
At least 14 Republican legislators lost their races against fellow Republicans on Tuesday in the 2024 primary election, with a controversial carbon dioxide pipeline among the top wedge issues to emerge.
Voters also ousted two of the state’s Native American lawmakers (a mother and son), and brought back a Republican who served as speaker of the House until two years ago.
Some of the victors leaned heavily on their opposition to Summit Carbon Solutions’ carbon capture pipeline, a multibillion-dollar project that would collect CO2 from ethanol producers in South Dakota and other states and move it through an underground pipeline for sequestration in North Dakota.
The project has caused more than two years of legal and legislative wrangling over landowner rights and eminent domain, the legal maneuver through which a company can seize property for projects in the public interest.
Some of the losing incumbents endorsed Senate Bill 201’s “Landowner Bill of Rights,” a compromise bill adopted last winter that’s aimed at boosting landowner protections while maintaining a path for the pipeline project. Ethanol boosters have argued that carbon sequestration – and the tax incentives that would make it profitable – is critical to the corn-based fuel’s future in South Dakota. Project opponents are seeking to refer the new law to a public vote in November. . . .
Current legislators who lost
The current legislators who lost their races, according to unofficial results from the Secretary of State’s Office:
. . . Tordsen’s mother and fellow Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate member, Tamara St. John, R-Sisseton, also came in third place in her race with 28% of the vote, losing to Logan Manhart (38%) and Christopher Reder (34%) in northeastern South Dakota’s District 1. . . .
At the Aberdeen Insider, Elisa Sand reported in In District 1 upset, Reder, Manhart get GOP primary nods:
Republican voters in District 1 endorsed two newcomers in the South Dakota House of Representatives primary race.
Logan Manhart of Aberdeen and Chris Reder of Warner advanced and will face two Democrats in the November general election. . . .
Reder and Manhart were on the ballot for the first time, though Manhart was briefly a legislative candidate in 2022 before facing a residency challenge. St. John has served in the House for the past six years.
Reder described Tuesday’s results as a win for conservative candidates in District 1 and beyond.
“It’s a big deal for two upstarts to beat a three-term incumbent,” he said.
Reder is a Navy veteran and founder and CEO of the DTOM Veterans Ranch in Warner. While big money was spent in some primary races, he said he was the exception in that regard. He said conservative voters spoke loudly Tuesday.
“South Dakota is a conservative state and that showed tonight,” he said.
Manhart said the win was exciting, but the results were unexpected with the number of people who gave Reder and him their support. In the future, he said he hopes to campaign more in Day, Marshall and Roberts counties. . . .
Bluestem doesn't doubt that, since Manhart's campaign Facebook page had made it appear that he was door knocking the snot out of Groton and other small towns in the district.
Readers can listen to Manhart and Reder's response to their primary victories in Hub City Radio's Reactions to 2024 elections.
Reporting for Keloland, Bob Mercer wrote in Voters show discontent in GOP legislative primaries:
Fourteen Republican legislators lost races Tuesday in South Dakota’s primary elections against candidates who in most cases weren’t very well known outside their local areas.
Low turnout was also part of the story in some districts, and that amplified a wave of anti-incumbent dissatisfaction among many of the voters who did go to the polls. . . .
Sen. Erin Tobin and Rep. James “JD” Wangsness, two mid-level Republican leaders who stood in support of Governor Kristi Noem, also met defeat. So did the mother-and-son tandem of Rep. Tamara St. John and Rep. Tyler Tordsen, as well as Rep. Byron Callies.
One thing they had in common was voting yes on SB201, the 2024 session’s most controversial piece of legislation.
. . .Tuesday’s legislative results also saw a lot of big spending by political action committees in support of the pro-pipeline bloc of candidates, and much of that money went to waste in unsuccessfully attempting to persuade people who for whatever reason didn’t vote. . . .
Finally, Austin Goss reports in Primary voters punish pipeline supporters in wave of defeats for the Dakota Scout:
Fourteen incumbents ousted amid grassroots revolt that could spell leadership changes
As results for South Dakota’s Republican state legislative races began to come in Tuesday evening, the night felt like it had the makings to include at least a few pivotal upsets.
In District 1, incumbent lawmaker Tamara St. John maintained a dwindling lead with her home county reporting fully, and down the road in Watertown, fellow House lawmaker Bryon Callies appeared to be in the fight of his young political life.
Both candidates would go on to lose, and it would only be the beginning of a nightmarish night for the more moderate faction of the state’s Republican Party, including leadership from both the House and Senate. . . .
Across the state, candidates say the number-one issue they heard from constituents was Summit Carbon Solution’s proposed pipeline to move CO2 across eastern South Dakota, and the subsequent Senate Bill 201 giving the company an easier path to move the project forward.
Lawmakers passed the so called “landowner bill of rights” after many amendments and over much consternation, particularly from members representing more rural districts. Interest groups, such as ethanol producers, poured money into key legislative races to attempt to preserve their voting bloc, vastly outspending rival interest groups opposing the pipeline’s construction.
It wasn’t enough, as Republican primary voters rallied around pipeline opponents. . . .
“We’ve got a high level of turnover here,” said University of South Dakota political science professor Michael Card. “There is a lot of ‘new Republicans’ who sided with local governments, and then you had old Republicans who in siding with businesses were going to eviscerate local governments. The farming public really doesn’t like that.” . . .
Jeepers. Who knew?
Photo: The candidates, from the Marshall County Journal's article, Three Vie In Republican House Primary Tuesday.
Related posts
- South Dakota District 1 GOP House primary news round-up: carbon pipeline politics major issue
- News update on Noem's pairing reservations, tribal leaders with cartels; Rep. St. John's reply
- Driven off ballot in 2022, Manhart announces 2024 bid for South Dakota House District 1
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- SD District 1 Republicans select Joe Donnell to fill ballot slot created by Manhart withdrawal
- In SD District One, GOP candidate & operative doesn't want to talk to press about January 6
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