Third time isn't the charm for primary nomination process for South Dakota AG, SOS

PIERRE — Republican lawmakers battled over two legislative days on the fate of how candidates for lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state could be nominated.

In the end, after a combined hour and a half of debate, nothing changed with lawmakers voting to keep the party convention nomination process.

The age-old question of keeping with the traditional convention process or moving to a newer, flashier primary nomination had lawmakers questioning the motivations of the Sioux Falls Republican representative who brought the bill throughout Tuesday and Wednesday. Two other lawmakers brought amendments to the bill attempting to allow the candidate for governor to pick the candidate for lieutenant governor while allowing for the attorney general and secretary of state position to stay within the convention nomination process.

Rep. Tyler Tordsen, R-Sioux Falls, had brought a resolution three weeks ago to ask voters to vote on if the nominations of certain state-wide offices should be held via a primary. That resolution was swiftly dispatched but Tordsen, ahead of the bill deadline, filed HB 1198 to create primary races for lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state.

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Tordsen explained on the floor Tuesday that his bill was a result of compromise and listening to criticisms. The bill did not have the support of the GOP party, as was referenced in Sen. John Wiik’s testimony against the bill on Monday in committee, and again by Rep. Mary Fitzgerald on Tuesday. Wiik serves as the GOP chairman while Fitzgerald is the GOP vice chair.

“This is the bill that I think has the best chance at making meaningful, forward-looking progress,” Tordsen said.

HB 1198 is the third attempt by Republicans to clean up the candidate nomination process after the 2022 GOP convention exposed deep fractures within the party, with establishment candidates for certain offices getting the boot or coming down to tight votes.

Rep. Jon Hansen, R-Dell Rapids, introduced an amendment on the floor to allow the gubernatorial candidate to pick the lieutenant governor. The rest of the amendment struck the primary nomination for attorney general and secretary of state.

“The truth is that this bill is about the most divisive bill when it comes to our party,” Hansen said, echoing comments that county GOP parties didn’t support HB 1198. “If you support that bill, you cannot claim the mantle of seeding unity within our party.”

Rep. Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, reminded the body that the GOP party had an upcoming central committee meeting where one of the topics would be addressing the convention process.

Others who supported the bill, like Rep. Drew Peterson, R-Salem, spoke about how at the 2022 convention 10 counties did not have representation and asked that lawmakers put themselves in the shoes of taking people’s votes away.

“Imagine all of our voters got to vote for secretary of state right now. Every year, they are used to that,” Peterson said. “Imagine standing up here today arguing we should take that vote away from them.”

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Five amendments were brought that proposed varying degrees of allowing the gubernatorial candidate to pick their running mate, letting the people vote in a primary for only the Attorney General, and on behalf of the Democrats, if a candidate couldn’t be fielded during a primary election, reverting back to the convention process.

All of those amendments failed with only Rep. Rocky Blare, R-Ideal, coming close to the mark but dying by three votes. Blare’s amendment sought to let the lieutenant governor be picked by the governor and allow the people to vote in a primary for attorney general.

Blare said he had been swayed by former Attorney General Mark Barnett’s testimony on Monday about the importance of the office.

And while lawmakers went back and forth on amendments, House Majority Leader Will Mortenson, R-Fort Pierre, said that while the discussion may have been difficult as a Republican party, it was also an opportunity to wildly expand people’s ability to vote in primary elections.

“If we bestowed this privilege upon the voters, will the sky fall? Will this be a dramatic upheaval, something that our state can't handle? Absolutely not,” he said. “It's about what's right for our state. It's about trusting our voters to vet for these positions and let their voices be heard.”

Democrats caught up in the Republican in-fighting voted for the bill despite the two failed amendments they had sponsored. Despite the joining of Democrats with their Republican colleague, HB 1198 failed in a 31-36 vote.

There’s still a chance of hope left: currently in the Senate, there is a bill that would allow the governor to pick their running mate. While the bill has been sent to committee, a hearing for it has not yet been picked.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SD House debates convention nomination process vs. primary election