There’s a disturbance in the force of SD politics

If Obi-Wan Kenobi were here, he’d say he’s feeling a great disturbance in the force. Fortunately it’s not the planet-killing kind of disturbance, but one that’s shaking up politics in South Dakota. Traditions and norms we thought we could count on are being shattered. Political party members are turning against each other. Maybe it’s the political end times. 
One of the first inklings that something was wrong came when Gov. Larry Rhoden said he wouldn’t participate in any debates against Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden. Doeden and Rhoden placed first and second in the June 2 Republican primary with neither receiving the 35 percentneeded to win outright. They’ll face off in an election on July 28.
Usually it’s the second place finisher or the candidate who has less in his campaign coffers that pushes for more debates. Rhoden qualifies on both counts. 
Doeden, who finished first, wants the debate.
“If Larry Rhoden no longer wishes to participate in the electoral process, he should suspend his campaign so that those of us who are serious about doing the work of the people can move forward with uniting the party ahead of November,” Doeden told The Dakota Scout. 
Doeden is good at being pugnacious, but it’s hard to see how a debate between those two candidates would unite the Republican Party. Also, there’s nothing in the state constitution requiring Rhoden to participate in a debate. While debates are a traditional part of campaigns for office, they aren’t an official part of the electoral process. And both Doeden and Rhoden and the other two candidates in the June 2 primary participated in three debates before that election.
While Doeden calls Rhoden’s failure to debate him a reason for the governor to drop out of the race, some Democrats are making the same sort of plea to their candidate for the U.S. Senate. South Dakota Democrats, who usually have a tough time fielding candidates for any office, have one this year who will challenge Sen. Mike Rounds. But some in the party don’t want him. 
Some party activists and donors would rather throw their support to independent Brian Bengs. The independent ran as a Democrat in 2022 against Sen. John Thune. Eighteen months affiliated with the Democratic Party for that campaign was enough for Bengs. He’s back to being an independent and doing well at it, raising more money than the Democratic candidate, Julian Beaudion. 
Beaudion and Bengs are both long shots to unseat Rounds. A move to back Bengs over Beaudion may do more harm than good for the state’s Democratic Party. It’s already a chore for the party to find credible candidates. What’s it going to say to future potential candidates if Democrats throw their support to someone who isn’t in the party?
Party politics has come to loom over the nonpartisan race for mayor of Sioux Falls. Politics wasn’t supposed to play a part in the runoff election between Christine Erickson, a Republican and former legislator, and Jamie Smith, a Democratic lawmaker and former candidate for governor. 
The race got political when Doeden took offense when the two candidates who finished third and fourth — Republican state Rep. Greg Jamison and Joe Batcheller, also a Republican — offered their endorsements to Smith instead of Erickson. The two men explained that their friendship with Smith ran deeper than party politics. That didn’t keep Doeden from going full Trump on both of them.
Labeling the two men who endorsed Smith as “proven losers and petty politicians,” Doeden disparaged Smith as a “radical-left wing legislator” and praised Erickson for her common sense. 
So here we are in a political world turned upside down, something we’re not used to in South Dakota. A nonpartisan race for mayor in the state’s largest city has turned intensely political. A party with a checkered history finding candidates for office has some of its members lobbying to chuck its candidate for the U.S. Senate. An incumbent governor — facing an opponent with deep, deep pockets — has turned down the free air time that goes with participating in a political debate. 
Not even Obi-Wan Kenobi could straighten out this mess. 
Dana Hess spent more than 25 years in South Dakota journalism, editing newspapers in Redfield, Milbank and Pierre. He's retired and lives in Brookings, working occasionally as a freelance writer. See more at south
dakotasearchlight.com.