Doeden v. Rhoden: GOP internal battle will shape SD’s future

There is currently a very real, but quietly fought battle for the soul and character of the South Dakota Republican Party. And this week’s state GOP convention provides a backdrop for the battle between two diverging views of what the party and its leaders should stand for. 

You’d think that John Thune, the four-term senator from Presho and current majority leader in the U.S.  Senate, would sit at the head of one of the factions. But you’d be wrong. You can bet he (uncharacteristically) won’t even be at the convention in Rapid City, because he has been relentlessly bad-mouthed by the current party leadership. (His presence is in the form of coffee break and dinner sponsorships.)

Why? Because he’s not pure enough for the leadership’s liking, and why would he walk the halls of the convention center to see and hear the sneers? (Junior U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, who was invited to speak at the Thursday lunch but is “unconfirmed,” will probably show up briefly for his de rigueur presence as a November candidate, but he probably won’t be hanging around for more than a few hours.)

The battle isn’t even between your father’s South Dakota GOP and Trump followers. It’s between two factions of Trump followers. Your father’s GOP is dead. Gone. Karl Mundt. Ronald Reagan. Ben Reifel. Jim Abdnor. Francis Case. Joe Barnett. George Bush. Joe Foss. Their ideas would not be welcome at this year’s GOP convention.

Many quite dedicated old Republicans have given up and become basically independents. However, some leftovers are scratching and clawing to save some semblance of what they perceive as the old party. Their strategy is to wait it out while the party radicals that they call “wackadoodles” eat so many of their young that they fail to reproduce themselves.

Remember that Trump is more popular than any politician in South Dakota. So, most of these waiting diehards are, like the wackadoodles, huge Trump supporters. But while they like Trump as president, they don’t like the local pols who lambast and curse opponents in the same way that the president does.

But even if they were all on the same side today, the nature of this purity contest is that leaders keep asking devotees where they stand, and when the “wrong” answer is given, the former colleague is sloughed off as a traitor, or at least a RINO. 

You must give the right answer every time — pipelines, bathrooms, property taxes, sex, regulations, etc. — or you are not worthy of any consideration. As you might guess, the pool of the truly worthy gets smaller and smaller.

Some party people think the battle is as simple as the pipeline issue. Two years ago, the anti-pipeline, property-rights advocates in the Freedom Caucus won enough legislative seats that they tipped the balance in the Legislature and tossed out and replaced all of the GOP legislative leadership. 

Now, in this year’s primary, 14 of the anti-pipeline/Freedom Caucus members were defeated. So, the wait-it-out Republicans are breathing easier and hoping that some semblance of sanity will return to the legislature. Not so fast.

The problem runs deeper. It’s not so simple. Toby Doeden, who is a soulmate of the Freedom Caucus, who wants to eliminate local property taxes, and who loves to attack and berate people, appears likely to win his primary runoff with Gov. Larry Rhoden. 

Given the GOP overwhelming numbers in the state, that means he’d be governor. So then Doeden will be the state GOP leader and South Dakota’s most visible local Republican regardless of the recent legislative changes. And Doeden has support from the current party leadership, which, by the way, is running this convention. 

The other wing of the party — the Rhoden wing for lack of a better label — already thinks of Doeden as a one of the wackadoodles. 

The problem goes even deeper. The current leadership can’t seem to raise much money. Either because they aren’t good at it or because the people who have traditionally given to the state GOP don’t want to give to the current party people. 

Most of the money reported in the last reporting period was raised by selling tickets and meals at this week’s convention — and will have to be used for that purpose. The party also ran a fund-raising game, but even they characterized the high-overhead, low-return final take as less than disappointing.

As for remainder — the rest of the normal fundraising, the result was dismal. So dismal that most local county GOP organizations raised far more for their own use. Do you suppose this is why Doeden decided to finance his own campaign?

Whether this paltry fundraising was the reason, the convention organizers decided late in the game to sub out the primary Friday night keynote speaker from TBA to speeches from the two remaining candidates for governor. There is also to be a sometime-Thursday keynote, but the speaker is unidentified and has been described in some reports as a “third-tier, young libertarian.”

The last hope of the people who do not consider themselves wackadoodles — after the defeat of U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson — is never-elected Gov. Rhoden. Unlike Doeden, he’s not a stand-on-the-table-and-give-a-rousing-speech kind of guy. But he does know the Legislature and he knows how state government works. That might not be the resume that works with many in the GOP. He’s not a street fighter, but Doeden is, so do the math. 

Some in the GOP — especially those startled by the defeat of Johnson — have begun calling for a “calm” government. 

If it wants to win, the old, urban GOP of Minnehaha County will have to stand up for a rancher if it wants to save its vision of a party that stands for caring government, free enterprise and fixing its roads. Rhoden’s lieutenant governor, Tony Venhuizen, who is really now the last link to the GOP of 10 years ago, will need to put on his big-boy pants and hit the sidewalks and chicken-dinner circuit.

The GOP businessmen with money will be split between those who want to remove all encumbrances out of their way (Doeden supporters) and those who realize that an unpredictable free for all is not good for business or businessmen — or the GOP. It’s a battle that will decide not only the 2026 gubernatorial election and the future of the GOP, but also the complexion of the future government and personality of our state.

Tim Schreiner is a native South Dakotan and current resident. He is a retired journalist who covered politics locally and nationally for 25 years.

Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons

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