Taking stock of the GOP gubernatorial runoff

Greetings. Man oh man what a republican primary election! I mean, specifically, the governor’s race. To recap a bit, four Republicans ran for their name to be on the general election ballot for the Republican party. Former Rep. Dan Ahlers ran unopposed in the Democrat primary, so automatically is their candidate.

The primary election was June 3. Voting in it was at 35 percent, which I guess is deemed high voter turnout for a primary election. That means 65 percent did not vote. In my humble opinion that is a pathetic voter turnout.

Results from the June 3 primary: Toby Doeden 31 percent of the vote, Gov. Rhoden 25 percent, Congressman Johnson 23 percent and Rep. Jon Hansen 20 percent of the vote. The requirement is for a candidate to exceed 35 percent of the vote to move on to the general election. If no one receives the required 35 percent, it becomes an eight-week runoff election, which was just held July 28.

This was the first ever governor’s runoff election. The July 28 results were: Gov. Rhoden with 72 percent and Toby Doeden with 28 percent of the vote. Out of the 328,882 registered republicans in the state, 118,123 cast their ballot for the exact same percentage as the primary election. Yep 35 percent, actually 35.92 percent, which technically is 36 percent. I should mention 7,300 Democrats and Independents and folks with no political party registered to vote before this election.

If you are like me, you are scratching your head thinking, “How can a candidate receive 31 percent of the vote in the primary against three other opponents and only 28 percent against only one person in the race?”

Here’s what transpired, even though Doeden got 31 percent, he still had 69 percent not vote for him. The eight-week runoff election was about holding your voters and picking up the Hansen and Johnson voters. Are you with me? Evidently those two voting pools voted for Gov. Rhoden.

Here, perhaps, are a couple of reasons why. Gov. Rhoden was the last candidate in the race. He was totally involved in the legislative session, which occupied January, February, and part of March, so Toby had an advantage of full time campaigning.

I can’t remember when Toby Doeden announced, but his early campaigning gave him a bump. Of the other two candidates, Dusty Johnson was busy doing his job representing us in D.C. and Jon Hansen was tied up with session as Gov. Rhoden was. Also, Doeden was trying to buy his way into the governor’s office. He self-funded his campaign to the tune of $4 million and it will probably show over $6 million of his own money when the final financial report is due Oct. 19. The other three were constantly scrambling for campaign funds.

In the runoff race, Gov. Rhoden hit his stride and then received the needed funds. He put those funds toward some great commercials and mailers and he worked very hard campaigning. His mantra of keeping South Dakota strong, safe and free really resonated with voters. Also, his explaining what was accomplished with the legislature regarding residential owner occupied property tax reduction was very effective.

In my past legislative campaign, that was the voters’ main concern (residential property taxes) and we came through. My campaign signs this time read, “Promises made, promises kept.” So far, very effective.

Another reason for Gov. Rhoden’s landslide runoff win was having a lieutenant governor, Tony Venhuizen, who is absolutely awesome and helping with his campaign, along with some key legislators such as Mike Derby, one of the first to endorse and campaign for Rhoden. Amber Hulse was on a very effective TV commercial. If you haven’t met Sen. Hulse yet, you absolutely need to. She is absolutely awesome.

I did support the governor. Our slogan “Veterans for Rhoden” expressed that he (the governor) was the only candidate with military service experience. Gov. Rhoden served six years in South Dakota’s National Guard. He attended Basic Combat Training and went on to his school (AIT) and became a certified welder. He served with distinction, rising to the rank of sergeant E5 before his six-year term was up.

This, I think, is important because the governor is Commander in Chief of all our Army Guard units as well as our Air National Guard at Joe Foss Field in Sioux Falls. In fact, Gov. Rhoden is the first governor since Gov. Joe Foss to serve in our National Guard.

Gov. Rhoden jokingly tells the story that our Adjutant Gen. Maj. Gen. Morrel works for an old Army Buck Sergeant, that being Larry Rhoden.