SOUTH DAKOTA UNDATED (Joshua Haiar, South Dakota Searchlight) – Most of the action in Tuesday’s South Dakota primary election is in Republican legislative races, where a fight for control of the party has drawn in players ranging from upstart challengers to fundraising groups affiliated with members of Congress.

There are 44 Republican legislative primary races across the state, and only one Democratic legislative primary. Winners will go on to represent the party in the Nov. 5 general election, when all 105 seats in the Legislature will be up for grabs.

Republicans currently hold all but 11 of 105 legislative seats, and their grip on the majority is not in doubt. But the party’s direction could be influenced by Tuesday’s results, many of which will be the final result. Among 35 districts, 16 of them lack general election contests for House seats and 20 lack general election contests for Senate seats, due to candidates running unopposed or one party (mostly Democrats) failing to field a candidate. In other words, in some districts, the primary election is the de facto general election.

One of the Republicans trying to influence the primary results is Toby Doeden, who considered challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson but decided against it. Doeden has since launched Dakota First Action, a political action committee aiming to remove “fake Republicans and their whole crony crowd” from the state House of Representatives, replacing them with “America First” candidates, according to Doeden.

“Then we’ll take the Senate and governor’s office,” Doeden said, referring to future elections.

Doeden contributed $100,000 of his own money to the committee and reported it as a donation, according to a campaign finance report. After online commenters pointed out the $10,000 limit on individual contributions to political action committees, Doeden said the contribution should have been reported as a loan, not a donation.

Pat Powers, a Republican blogger, has filed an affidavit alleging Doeden is “flagrantly violating” campaign finance laws. Powers also published correspondence from Attorney General Marty Jackley indicating that Jackley’s office is investigating.

As of the last filing deadline, Doeden’s committee had spent $25,000 on “data acquisition,” and recently sent text messages to District 25 voters alleging a Republican candidate he dislikes is a liberal in disguise.

Another political action committee seeking to challenge the Republican establishment in Pierre is Spearfish Republican Rep. Scott Odenbach’s Liberty Tree. It spent $58,000 ahead of the primary.

Former executive director of Rapid City Catholic Social Services Jim Kinyon’s Protecting SD Kids donated $37,000 to similar candidates, as did anti-abortion activists’ South Dakota Right to Life PAC, spending $11,600. The PAC is affiliated with the nonprofit South Dakota Right to Life, which includes Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Watertown, Sen. Al Novstrup, R-Aberdeen, and former representative and current candidate Spencer Gosch on its board.

None of the money spent by those committees went to Republican candidates currently serving in legislative leadership positions.

One such Republican, former state senator Tom Dempster, of Sioux Falls, warns that confrontational politics within the party will contribute to further divides in an already divided country.

“We have way too many candidates on the fringe that want people to rally around them because they simply want to upset the system,” Dempster said. “It’s just the opposite of what our democracy needs today. We need people who know how to handle conflict and pull people together.”

The kinds of candidates Dempster favors are receiving help in the primary from longtime Republican state lawmaker Lee Schoenbeck, of Watertown, who isn’t seeking reelection. He founded a political action committee in 2021, South Dakota Strong. The committee spent $46,000 on nine candidates ahead of this primary, according to its campaign finance report.

Schoenbeck said today’s Republican party consists of two different groups of people.

“There are the normal Republicans, and there are these strange individuals who are not conservative. They’re just unusual,” Schoenbeck said. “But they turn out big in primary elections. So, if normal, regular-thinking conservative folks don’t vote in this primary, the highly unusual folks will win.”

Mort PAC, run by House Majority Leader Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, spent $48,271 to help some of the same candidates. It received $10,000 from Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds’ Peter Norbeck Leadership PAC and $10,000 from Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune’s Heartland Values PAC.

Dusty PAC, managed by supporters of U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, donated $25,750 to many of the same candidates and more.

Dakota Legacy PAC, run by Senate Majority Leader Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, took a similar approach, giving $16,700 to candidates and spending $10,000 on advertising. The committee also received $10,000 apiece from Thune’s and Rounds’ PACs.

Following are summaries of some races that people on both sides of the Republican divide say they’re watching closely.

House of Representatives

In state House of Representatives primaries, the top two vote-getters from each party advance to the general election, where they will vie for two House seats in each legislative district.

District 18 (Clay, Yankton counties): Incumbents Mike Stevens and Julie Auch, and challenger John Marquardt, all of Yankton.

Auch received money from South Dakota Right to Life PAC and a 91.7% scorecard rating from South Dakota Citizens for Liberty, a group that says it advocates for limited government. Stevens received money from Dusty PAC and a 33.3% rating on the Citizens for Liberty scorecard.

Meanwhile, Auch received a D rating from a scorecard published by the Republican blogger Powers, the Real Conservative Scorecard, and Stevens received a B+ rating.

Yankton County Commission Chairman Marquardt received donations from Mort PAC and Dusty PAC.

District 13 (Lincoln, Minnehaha counties): Incumbent Tony Venhuizen and challengers Brad Jankord, John Hughes and Penny BayBridge, all of Sioux Falls. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the two Republican primary winners will win the two House seats.

Venhuizen formerly served as chief of staff for Governors Kristi Noem and Dennis Daugaard and has been involved in Republican state politics for many years.

Jankord received donations from Dusty PAC, Mort PAC, former Gov. Dennis Daugaard, Venhuizen and others, totaling over $60,000.

Hughes has received funding from Odenbach’s Liberty Tree, South Dakota Right to Life PAC, Protecting SD Kids and others, totaling over $40,000.

BayBridge took in $4,703 from various individuals.

With Venhuizen taking in over $100,000, plus the fundraising by other candidates, the district’s primary election is the most expensive South Dakota Searchlight found.

District 9 (Minnehaha County): Incumbent Bethany Soye, of Sioux Falls, and challengers Kristi Golden, Daryl Christensen and Tesa Schwans, all of Hartford.

Soye has a 97.5% Citizens for Liberty rating and contributions from Liberty Tree, South Dakota Right to Life PAC and Protecting SD Kids. She was given a D rating on the Real Conservative Scorecard.

Schwans received donations from South Dakota Right to Life PAC, Protecting SD Kids and Liberty Tree.

Golden received donations from Dusty PAC and Mort PAC, and Christensen received donations from Venhuizen and Daugaard.

District 2 (Minnehaha County): Incumbents John Sjaarda, of Valley Springs, and David Kull, of Brandon, face challenger Jake Schoenbeck, of Sioux Falls. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the two Republican primary winners will win the two House seats.

Sjaarda has an 87.5% Citizens for Liberty rating and contributions from Liberty Tree and Protecting SD Kids. Schoenbeck is the son of longtime legislative leader Lee Schoenbeck (who isn’t seeking reelection). South Dakota Strong gave Jake Schoenbeck $5,000. He also received contributions from Mort PAC and Dusty PAC.

Kull has an A rating on the Real Conservative Scorecard and received donations from Dusty PAC and Mort PAC.

District 21 (Aurora, Charles Mix, Douglas, Gregory and Tripp counties): Incumbent Marty Overweg, of New Holland, and challengers Lee Qualm, of Platte, and Jim Halverson, of Winner. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the two Republican primary winners will win the two House seats.

Overweg has a 97.5% Citizens for Liberty rating and contributions from Liberty Tree and South Dakota Right to Life PAC. Qualm, a former legislator, also has Liberty Tree and South Dakota Right to Life PAC contributions, plus an endorsement from Dakota First Action.

Halverson, whose daughter is involved with U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson’s reelection campaign, received donations from Dusty PAC and Mort PAC.

District 23 (Brown, Campbell, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, McPherson, Potter, Walworth counties): Incumbents Scott Moore, of Ipswich, and Majority Whip James Wangsness, of Miller, and challenger Spencer Gosch. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the two Republican primary winners will win the two House seats.

Gosch previously served as speaker of the House. He received contributions from Protect SD Kids, Liberty Tree and a PAC affiliated with the South Dakota Freedom Caucus, whose members sometimes clash with Republican legislative leaders.

Wangsness has an A+ rating on the Real Conservative Scorecard and received contributions from Dusty PAC and Mort PAC.

Moore’s pre-primary finance report includes donations from Dusty PAC, Protecting SD Kids and the South Dakota Freedom Caucus PAC.

Senate

In state Senate primaries, only the top vote-getter from each party advances to the general election to vie for one Senate seat in each legislative district.

District 16 (Lincoln, Turner, Union counties): Kevin Jensen vs. Eric Hohman, both of Canton. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

Jensen, a current state representative, is term-limited in the House. He has an 83.3% Citizens for Liberty rating and a contribution from Liberty Tree and South Dakota Right to Life PAC.

Hohman’s campaign has received contributions from Lee Schoenbeck’s South Dakota Strong PAC, Senate Majority Leader Casey Crabtree’s Dakota Legacy PAC and the Dusty PAC.

District 3 (Brown County): Carl Perry vs. Katherine Washnok, both of Aberdeen. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

Current state representative Perry is attempting a switch to the Senate against Brown County Republican Chair Washnok.

Washnok says she “grew up in” the state Republican Party. She has a contribution from Dakota Legacy PAC and Dusty PAC.

Perry has a 75% SD Citizens for Liberty rating, a Dakota First Action endorsement, and checks from Liberty Tree and South Dakota Right to Life PAC.

District 30 (Custer, Fall River, Pennington counties): Incumbent Julie Frye-Mueller, of Rapid City, vs. Amber Hulse, of Hot Springs, and Forrest Foster, of Rapid City.

Frye-Mueller is one of two Republicans with a 100% rating from Citizens for Liberty. The state Senate censured Frye-Mueller in 2023. She had allegedly verbally harassed a Legislative Research Council staffer, including criticism of the staffer’s decision to have her baby vaccinated.

Hulse is a lawyer and former Miss South Dakota who worked as an intern in President Donald Trump’s administration. She received a donation from Dusty PAC.

Foster received $1,600 ahead of the primary, including $1,000 from himself.

District 8 (Brookings, Kingsbury, Lake, Miner counties): Incumbent Casey Crabtree, of Madison, vs. Rick Weible, of Elkton. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

Crabtree is the Senate majority leader and reports taking in about $69,000 on his pre-primary finance report. He has a 31.8% rating from Citizens for Liberty.

Weible is a leader in attempts to get rid of vote-counting machines and force hand-counting. He received a donation from the South Dakota Freedom Caucus and took in $6,000 total.

District 4 (Clark, Codington, Deuel, Grant, Hamlin and Roberts counties): Fred Deutsch, of Florence, vs. Stephanie Sauder, of Bryant. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

With term limits forcing John Wiik out of the Senate, current representatives Deutsch and Sauder are seeking the open seat.

Deutsch has a 66.7% Citizens for Liberty rating and received donations from South Dakota Right to Life PAC and Protecting SD Kids. Sauder has a 43.5% Citizens for Liberty rating and contributions from South Dakota Strong and Dusty PAC.

District 35 (Pennington): Incumbent Mike Walsh, of Box Elder, vs. challengers Greg Blanc and Curtis Nupen, both of Rapid City. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

Walsh was appointed to an open seat this year by Gov. Kristi Noem. He has a contribution from South Dakota Strong. Blanc has contributions from Liberty Tree and South Dakota Right to Life PAC. Nupen gave himself $6,000.

District 34 (Pennington): Jason Green vs. Taffy Howard, both of Rapid City.

With incumbent Michael Diedrich not seeking reelection, former legislator Howard is seeking a return to the Legislature. She is a former primary challenger to U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, whom she described as insufficiently conservative. She has contributions from Liberty Tree, South Dakota Right to Life PAC and Protecting SD Kids, and a Dakota First Action endorsement.

Green is endorsed by outgoing Sen. Diedrich and received donations from Dusty PAC and Lee Schoenbeck.

District 25 (Minnehaha and Moody counties): Incumbent Tom Pischke, of Dell Rapids, vs. challenger Jordan Youngberg, of Colman.

Pischke has an 80.7% rating from Citizens for Liberty, a contribution from Liberty Tree and a Dakota First Action endorsement. He made statewide news for being banned from the House during the last days of the most recent legislative session for a breach of decorum.

Youngberg, a former legislator, has contributions from South Dakota Strong and Dusty PAC.

District 17 (Clay and Union counties): Incumbent Sydney Davis, of Burbank, vs. Jeffrey Church, of Vermillion. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

Church has contributions from Liberty Tree and Protecting SD Kids, and is highlighting Davis’ 20% Citizens for Liberty rating in his campaign material. Davis has donations from Dusty PAC and others totaling about $39,000.

District 9 (Minnehaha County): Joy Hohn, a vocal opponent of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipelines, faces off with former representative Mark Willadsen. There is no Democratic or independent candidate, which means the Republican primary winner wins the seat.

Doeden’s Dakota First Action endorsed Hohn, and she has donations from Liberty Tree and South Dakota Right to Life PAC.

Willadsen has donations from Dusty PAC, former Gov. Daugaard, and former speaker of the state House, Mark Mickelson.

 

LAKE ANDES, S.D. (John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight) – A double stabbing that left one man dead and another hospitalized led to a rare extradition order to state custody from the Yankton Sioux Tribe this week.

Mackenzie Antelope, 18, of Lake Andes, is charged with alternate counts of first- and second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter in the death of 22-year-old Lake Andes resident Quinlan Ream.

Antelope is accused of stabbing Ream and 33-year-old Dylan Oulette of Lake Andes in a motel in that Charles Mix County town. He’s facing an aggravated assault charge for the Oulette stabbing.

Oulette stumbled into the Lake Andes Gus Stop on May 21 at 10:41 p.m. with multiple stab wounds and reported the stabbing, according to an affidavit signed Tuesday in Antelope’s criminal case file. He was soon taken to a hospital in Sioux Falls.

Sheriff’s deputies followed a trail of blood to the Landing Strip hotel, located across a highway from the Gus Stop, to find Ream’s body on the floor of one of the rooms.

Police later interviewed two witnesses who’d been drinking with the victims and suspect that evening, the affidavit says, and heard a description of a verbal altercation that ended with Antelope stabbing the victims. From his hospital room, Oulette identified Antelope as his assailant.

Antelope fled from the scene onto Yankton Sioux tribal land after the stabbing. State and county officers typically cannot arrest those suspected of committing state crimes if the suspect crosses onto Native land, and tribal officers cannot arrest suspects on state charges.

The Yankton Sioux Tribe’s jurisdiction is “checkerboard,” meaning tribal and other lands intermingle. Some of South Dakota’s nine tribal nations, including Rosebud and Oglala, are situated on larger reservations with encompassing boundaries.

Recent controversies over jurisdictional challenges

Jurisdictional challenges have framed controversies between Gov. Kristi Noem and tribal leaders in recent months. Noem has called upon tribal leaders to ink memoranda of understanding with the state to allow outside law enforcement to assist tribal law enforcement.

Tribal officials, meanwhile, have bristled at Noem’s accusations that some of them are “personally benefiting” from an infiltration of drug cartels onto tribal lands – something many tribal leaders dispute, even though drugs originally produced by cartels are widely available.

Attorney General Marty Jackley and Noem collaborated to launch a tribal law enforcement academy recently as a way to encourage more recruits to join tribal agencies. That basic certification course begins in Pierre on Monday.

Noem also recently called a tribal law enforcement summit and invited tribal leaders, even as the governments of all nine tribes have voted to banish her from their lands.

On Thursday, Oglala Sioux Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said in a press release that the summit is a “divide and conquer tactic,” and said he would not attend.

Jackley, meanwhile, has begun meeting with tribal officials on law enforcement issues. He met with the Lower Brule Tribal Council on Thursday.

In a recent opinion column, Jackley stressed that state and tribal law enforcement work together when necessary to overcome jurisdictional challenges.

“I do not accept ‘jurisdiction’ as an impediment to the ability and responsibility of law enforcement to collectively protect everyone in South Dakota, on and off reservations,” Jackley wrote, in part. “We can always strive to do better. Recent publicity has shed light on the importance to build upon and strengthen what law enforcement is already doing to protect all South Dakotans.”

Stabbings prompt rare level of cooperation

Antelope’s arrest stands as an example of how such collaborations play out in the absence of formal agreements between state and tribal agencies.

To facilitate Antelope’s Wednesday arrest across the jurisdictional border, the tribe’s chairman first needed to sign an extradition order, Yankton Sioux Tribal Police Chief Edwin Young said Friday.

That order, once ratified in tribal court, allowed Young’s department to apprehend Antelope on Wednesday. Antelope waived an extradition hearing and will make his first appearance in court next week in Lake Andes.

Young, who started with the YST police in 2016, says he can only recall two other times when such an extradition order was signed. Misdemeanors and lower-level felonies typically don’t see intervention from the tribe’s chairman, he said.

“The county government and tribal government don’t always see eye-to-eye, but on a major incident like this we have to work together,” Young said.

In a press release, Charles Mix County State’s Attorney Steve Cotton said the Charles Mix County Sheriff’s Office, the state Division of Criminal Investigation and Yankton Sioux Tribal Police worked together to conduct interviews on both sides of the state-tribal border and across two counties.

Cotton lauded the cooperation.

“This case is a prime example of tribal, state, and county governments working together,” Cotton wrote. “Due to this collaborative effort, law enforcement officers from multiple agencies were able to act swiftly in order to protect the public.”

Ream, according to his obituary, attended college in Kansas after graduating high school in Montana. He had worked at Fort Randall Casino, and recently became a father.

 

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight) – Three years after it was first announced, Schwan’s Co. is taking the next step in its investment in South Dakota after closing on 142 acres of land in northwest Sioux Falls.

The company plans to construct a 700,000-square-foot Asian food production facility at Foundation Park, including a wastewater treatment facility on the manufacturing site. The wastewater treatment facility will allow the company to discharge water to the city “with the least amount of impact on the city’s operations,” according to a news release.

The company, based in Minnesota and a subsidiary of South Korea-based CJ foods, originally announced its plans in 2021. The project at that time would have cost about $500 million and created 600 jobs in South Dakota’s largest city. Gov. Kristi Noem called it “the largest project in the history of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development” at the time. A similar description has since been applied to a potential $1 billion sustainable aviation fuel facility in Lake Preston.

The newest Schwan’s announcement does not have an official estimate for the cost of the facility, though it’ll still employ 600 people.

Noem welcomed the news Friday in a press release, saying, “South Dakota just keeps growing. Our ‘Open for Business’ mindset is transforming our state into an economic powerhouse.”

South Dakota’s unemployment rate in April 2024 stood at 2%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. South Dakota tied with North Dakota for the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at the time.

The new manufacturing facility will produce Asian-style foods, primarily for the Schwan’s bibigo brand, using automated production lines. The campus will also include a warehouse and distribution center, shipping and receiving docks, and office space.

The company also plans to open a regional office in downtown Sioux Falls “to support its continued expansion and operations at the new manufacturing facility,” according to a news release from the company.  That office will employ another 50 people initially with potential to grow to 100 employees.

Schwan’s outgoing CEO Dimitrios P. Smyrnios said state and local officials helped the company “make great progress” on the project, which will increase production capacity for Schwan’s. The company’s bibigo brand is sold nationwide, including at Costco stores. The facility will join Asian food facilities for CJ Foods on the East and West coasts.

“I want to personally thank Governor Kristi Noem and her team for their leadership and commitment to our plans,” Smyrnios said in the news release. “Without her unwavering support, this project would not be possible. It’s clear to me that the ‘State of South Dakota is open for business.’”

State officials did not immediately respond to South Dakota Searchlight messages seeking information on any assistance offered to Schwan’s. The company directed questions about that topic to state officials.

Bob Mundt, president and CEO of the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, told Searchlight the organization does not disclose incentives given to potential business partners unless the company does.

 

KENNARD, NE – Nebraska State Troopers have arrested two suspects after an incident that led to two officer involved shootings.

It all broke down late last week when troopers tried to arrest 42-year old Jason Davenport on an arrest warrant out of Pottawattamie County Iowa at a residence in Omaha on Thursday night.

Davenport, along with 40-year old Dana Banks were in the residence and escaped out the back of the house, firing at least two shots at the officers.  Davenport attempted to steal an unoccupied police cruiser while an Omaha police officer returned fire at Davenport.

At that point in time Banks pulled up in a Ford Fusion and she and Davenport fled the scene.

On Friday afternoon a Washington County Deputy spotted a stolen Kia and attempted a traffic stop, Davenport and Banks were in that vehicle and attempted to flee, leading to a pursuit near Kennard, Nebraska.  The two exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot but were found hiding in a semi cab.

Davenport refused to surrender or drop his weapon and authorities fired upon the pair again, causing non life threatening wounds to Banks who surrendered.

Eventually a combination of an armored vehicle and a K-9 unit were used to gain access to the cab and take Davenport into custody.

Charges are pending and no officers were injured during the event.