Republican Party

COMMENTARY
Voters line up to cast early ballots on Nov. 4, 2022, at the Minnehaha County Courthouse in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)

Open primaries should be part of debate over candidate nominations

BY: - March 10, 2023

As the legislative session wound down, Republicans had a tough time deciding the fate of Senate Bill 40, a bill that originally called for primaries, rather than political party conventions, to decide on top state candidates. In the end, Republicans couldn’t agree on how to change the system. In its original form, SB 40 called […]

Legislators in the Senate Chamber during the 2023 legislative session at the Capitol in Pierre. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight)

Senate scraps bill to switch nominations from conventions to primaries

BY: - March 7, 2023

An effort to change the way many statewide candidates are nominated has failed, after it pitted factions of the Republican Party against each other for much of the current legislative session. Tuesday at the Capitol in Pierre, the Senate decided not to support House amendments to the bill or appoint a conference committee to work […]

During a 2023 press conference at the Capitol in Pierre, state Sen. Tom Pischke, R-Dell Rapids, announces a complaint against senators who voted to suspend Sen. Julie Frye-Mueller, R-Rapid City, who is pictured to the left of Pischke. (Joshua Haiar/South Dakota Searchlight).

Republican leaders flip the script this session, go on offensive against insurgents

BY: - March 4, 2023

The traditional narrative about the split in the South Dakota Republican Party is outsider driven — people on the edges of the party working to gain influence by becoming delegates to the state party convention, running in primary elections, and engaging in online activism. But during this year’s legislative session, it’s the insiders, not the […]

The 2023 House floor vote for speaker of the South Dakota House of Representatives. (Joshua Haiar/SD Searchlight)

Speaker vote makes history and reveals extent of Republican rift

BY: - January 12, 2023

When Jon Hansen was passed over for speaker of the state House of Representatives this week, he made history and revealed a rift of historic proportions in the Republican Party.  Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, was the speaker pro tempore last year. That should have made him a shoe-in for speaker of the House when representatives needed […]

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, speaks during a Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee hearing on Jan. 27, 2021, in Washington, D.C. (Photo Sarah Silbiger-Pool/Getty Images)

Rounds criticizes Trump’s call for ‘termination’ of the Constitution

BY: - December 5, 2022

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota, is criticizing former president Donald Trump for proposing the “termination” of the U.S. Constitution. Rounds issued a written statement by email Monday afternoon. “Americans have a deep appreciation for the Constitution and our Founding Fathers who risked their lives to establish it,” Rounds’ statement said, in part. “As elected […]