Can Noem unite the SD GOP more than Trump ahead of 2024? It's complicated

Former president Donald Trump’s rally in Rapid City a week ago was supposed to unite the South Dakota Republican Party, but the rally could be described as anything but unifying.

Before Trump even took stage, the SD GOP played a video on the main screen meant to rile up the crowd with the party’s dominance over the years. When pictures of the state’s congressional delegation — Sens. John Thune and Mike Rounds and Rep. Dusty Johnson — flashed, the crowd launched into boos.

One woman asked why the men who represent the state in Washington made paltry excuses to explain their reasonings for not being there. Johnson said he was on a family vacation, while Thune and Rounds said they had other plans they were unable to cancel.

Adding to the sense of disunity, in Gov. Kristi Noem’s speech introducing Trump, she took a potshot at the delegation. She didn't go so far as to name them but the intention was clear.

"They don’t show up for you when it matters,” the second-term Republican governor said. "They didn’t even show up here tonight to welcome a former President of the United States to South Dakota who cared enough to come support our state Republican Party and our great Chairman John Wiik.”

More: 'You made America great... Let's do it again': Noem endorses Trump at Rapid City rally

But even if Noem took a shot at the congressional delegation, could she still help unite the party as speculation grows that Trump may name her his vice presidential pick? The screen flashed Trump Noem 2024 and signs were handed out during the rally with the same message after she had endorsed the former president.

Mike Card, a retired professor of political studies at the University of South Dakota, and Jon Schaff, a professor of government at Northern State University, aren’t quite sure.

Schaff pointed to a divide in the party since Thune was booed.

“I can’t think of, in South Dakota politics, a figure that is more unitive amongst Republicans than John Thune,” he said.

Thune has walloped every single Democratic challenger he’s had for his seat in the Senate since 2004, winning a historic fourth term last year.

Furthering the divide is the fact that Thune and Rounds have endorsed South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott’s bid for President, and that might have influenced their decision on attending. Card speculated the Congressional delegation might have made a different choice if the event had been plainly a state GOP event.

The event, the Monumental Leaders Rally, wasn’t ticketed as a specific Trump rally. Instead, it was the GOP’s annual fundraiser. Tickets went for $25 a pop, with VIP packages starting at $15,000 and going all the way up to $25,000.

More: Why Gov. Kristi Noem's long-touted bills were killed in the S.D. Legislature this session

GOP Chair John Wiik, who also serves as a Senator from Big Stone City, said at the event there were 7,000 people in attendance and the event had sold out within days. That assumes the GOP made a quick $175,000 from those sitting in the general admission area. More than likely, funds will be used to help various GOP candidates running for office in 2024.

But it was noticed during the rally there were empty seats and the area near the stage, and behind the VIP seating, only four rows of people were standing.

“I don't know that it was so much of a Trump rally, except that it was clearly an effort to bring people together and to get higher contributions,” Card said.

Even without the congressional delegation at the rally, members of South Dakota’s state house leadership weren’t in attendance. Sen. Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck, R-Watertown, as well as Senate Majority Leader Casey Crabtree, R-Madison, weren’t seen in the VIP section with a handful of state lawmakers who did make it. Neither were House Majority Leader Rep. Will Mortenson, R-Pierre, or House Speaker Rep. Hugh Bartels, R-Watertown.

Schaff said distance might have been a deciding factor since the lawmakers hail from the east side of the state. But distance didn’t stop Sioux Falls Sens. Jack Kolbeck and Jim Stalzer from attending.

“If it's a big Republican unity event, everybody's there," he said. "But they weren't, and so it's not."

And if Noem is truly gunning for a spot at Trump’s side if he’s nominated to be the GOP pick to run against President Joe Biden in 2024, Card and Schaff say, people have to look at Noem’s accomplishments during the legislative session.

The 2023 legislative session left Noem’s agenda bruised and busted on the floor, unable to pass a permanent cut to the state’s sales tax on food, a private-public family leave program and bans on China buying agricultural land. Noem all but threatened to veto the general budget bill over the tax cut issue.

Noem was also accused in 2022 of trying to meddle with the impeachment proceedings in the House against then-Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg after he hit and killed a man while driving back from a GOP event in Sept. 2020.

“I'm not sure that she has universal support amongst Republicans,” Schaff said, adding Republicans would rally around her to support her VP candidacy. “But I think she's kind of thrown too many elbows in South Dakota Republican politics to be a completely unifying figure.”

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Can Noem unite South Dakota GOP ahead of 2024 general election?