I grew up in Mobridge and I ranch outside Glenham. My wife Ashley and I are raising our family in the same community where I was raised. A place where people work hard, look out for their neighbors, and do not expect the government to solve problems they can handle themselves.
That is South Dakota. That is not the Democrat Party.
The Stakes for South Dakota Agriculture
I have served on the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in the state House, and I have spent years watching what Washington’s priorities do to rural communities like the ones I represent. The contrast between what South Dakota Republicans stand for and what national Democrats are pushing has never been clearer — and this November, voters are going to have to choose between them.
Start with agriculture. District 23 covers eight counties — Campbell, Edmunds, Faulk, Hand, McPherson, Potter, Spink, and Walworth. Nearly every family in those counties has a connection to farming or ranching. They do not need federal bureaucrats dictating how they manage their land, what inputs they can use, or how they power their operations. Republican leadership in Pierre has worked to protect that way of life — cutting red tape, defending water rights, and pushing back against federal overreach that would make it harder to farm in this state. Washington Democrats have spent years moving in exactly the opposite direction. Their energy agenda drives up input costs. Their regulatory priorities treat American agriculture as a problem to be managed rather than a backbone to be protected. South Dakota producers cannot afford another round of that.
The Cost of Living is Not an Abstract Problem
Then there is the cost of living. Families across central and northern South Dakota are still feeling the effects of the inflation that Democrat policies helped fuel — at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and in the cost of building or buying a home. Republicans have fought to reverse that damage. No taxes on tips. No taxes on overtime. Tax relief that puts money back in the pockets of working people instead of sending it to Washington to fund programs South Dakotans never asked for. Democrats have opposed those efforts at every turn. Their answer to the cost of living crisis is more spending, more regulation, and more government — the same approach that made things worse in the first place.
The Choice This November
I have sat in the Speaker’s chair in the South Dakota House of Representatives. I have seen what it looks like when government stays in its lane and lets people live their lives. South Dakota works because we govern that way. Washington Democrats do not.
This November, the choice is simple. It is between the values that have made South Dakota one of the best states in the country to live, work, and raise a family — and an agenda from Washington that would chip away at everything that makes this place worth fighting for.
I know which side I am on. I think most South Dakotans do too.
