2026 Convention Resolutions Passed

Sandye Kading has spent many years as a committed South Dakota Republican, dedicating her time and effort to promote the Republican principles that have fortified our party, state, and country.

Carbon dioxide gas (CO2) has been maligned and labeled as a greenhouse gas pollutant to the point of spending millions of dollars to bury it; the intent of this resolution is for South Dakota Republican Party to show support of CO2 as an essential and beneficial gas within our environment as it helps to sustain life;

This resolution affirms the South Dakota Republican Party’s commitment to protecting children from sexual exploitation, abuse, and pedophilia as a core moral and platform principle, emphasizing the devastating impact of these crimes on victims and communities. Its primary purpose is to urge stronger legislative action, including harsher mandatory minimum sentences (such as life without parole for repeat offenders), expanded funding and tools for the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force to combat rising online exploitation—highlighted by a sharp increase in Cybertips in recent years—and swift justice measures like mandatory restitution for victims and improved extradition processes. The intent is to rally GOP support for proactive, law-and-order policies that deter perpetrators, empower law enforcement without unnecessary government expansion, and position the party as a staunch defender of child safety ahead of future sessions and elections.

The United States Constitution guarantees to every State a Republican Form of Government; a constitutional Republican form of local self government where we the people conduct our elections and count our ballots at the precinct level; this is the foundational and most fundamental act of a free people, as power must stay in the precinct, hand counted by the registered stakeholders of those precincts.

The South Dakota Republican Party stands firmly behind principles of free speech and free press, while also recognizing the need to protect taxpayers from coercion to fund politically biased and offensive programming that comes through South Dakota Public Broadcasting (SDPB). The goal is removal of all funding for such programming while retaining funding for Emergency Broadcast System, government transparency broadcasts and other key infrastructure, and shifting any popular programming to subscription-based services to lessen the burden on South Dakota taxpayers.

The Founders of our Country intentionally designed the Government of the United States to be a Representative Republic and not a direct democracy; yet, prevalent within our citizenry is the misperception that the United States is ONLY a democracy. To celebrate the 250th Anniversary of our Nation, it is time to powerfully correct this intentionally and perpetually perpetrated error.

The Republican Party in South Dakota, in recent times, has been subverted by an honest open process of the ability to change party affiliation from one political party to another. While this is good in theory, it has been abused by people changing parties before a primary election, to vote for someone they have no intention to cast a vote for in the general election. Citizens of South Dakota have the ability to change parties before a primary and change back to their original party before the general election if they wish. This ability is being misused and, in some cases, aimed at electing a candidate less likely to win against the person’s real preferred candidate or in other cases, changing parties just to vote for someone not of their party but more of their persuasion; a limit of one-party registration change per year, and only in the years where there is no political party election. This would eliminate much of the problem.

Cell Cultured Protein has been banned from the State of South Dakota for 5 years, however it should be a concern of all South Dakotans the possibility of this fake protein ever allowed in South Dakota. FDA approved cell cultivated protein using the manufacturers research. This fake protein is banned currently in 7 other states in the US and several countries. The only Nations allowing it to be manufactured and sold; United States and South Korea. The fact that globalist desire a slaughter less form of protein and the 4 major packers in the US are backing the production of cell cultivated protein should alarm all of us.

Minnesota, South Dakota’s Eastern Neighbor, is pursuing a net-zero carbon energy policy. This negatively impacts South Dakota, as energy providers who serve Minnesota seek to exploit South Dakota’s energy policies in ways that are of no benefit to South Dakota. This resolution calls for action to protect South Dakota from the negative impacts of Minnesota’s zero-carbon agenda.

With America celebrating its 250th Anniversary, this resolution supports that celebration. It furthermore acknowledges South Dakota’s own contributions to and place in American history. Finally, it further recognizes the importance and historical significance of Mount Rushmore as an iconic symbol of both South Dakota and the United States as a whole. This comes even as Mount Rushmore has become a popular target for those who oppose what America stands for, to which this Resolution responds by expressing support for and standing in defense of Mount Rushmore.

This resolution calls upon the 2026 South Dakota Republican State Convention to commend Attorney General Marty Jackley for joining the February 5, 2025 coalition letter of seventeen state Attorneys General pledging to pursue accountability for COVID-19 pandemic-response malfeasance, and to robustly support him and his successor in office in exercising the state-law authority that letter asserts. It urges the Attorney General to pursue accountability against all bad actors identified in the coalition letter — not only pardon-shielded federal officials — including South Dakota-specific matters such as the thirteen-month delay in publishing the Sanford Health SURVIVE natural-immunity findings, and to coordinate with the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee. It further affirms that no South Dakotan should be compelled to undergo a medical intervention without full and honest disclosure of relevant scientific information, including evidence of natural immunity, as a matter of informed consent.

South Dakota’s people, families, property rights, privacy, agricultural heritage, and rural character must take precedence over the “gold-rush” of largescale data center and AI infrastructure development. This resolution sets priorities in first principles such as local control over land-use decisions, full transparency in agreements affecting communities, protection from AI-related harms such as deepfakes and surveillance, and opposition to eminent domain for private gain. Finally, it calls on all elected officials to ensure future economic development remains secondary to the protection of the state’s people and way of life.