06/08/2026
A massive thank you to Representative Erik Muckey and Representative Eric Emery for co-chairing this weekend’s SDDP State Convention. South Dakota is stronger thanks to incredible leaders like them.
We all have a role to play in the democratic process.
This is half the room at yesterday's South Dakota Democratic Party State Convention in Sioux Falls. 192 of 204 eligible delegates from 37 counties came to Convention for one of the largest turnouts in recent memory. I was honored to co-chair State Convention with Representative Eric Emery and work alongside a multi-generational coalition from every corner of the state.
Together, these delegates nominated our constitutional officer candidates for November, built a platform that reflects the best of South Dakota, and passed resolutions on what matters at our kitchen tables: investing in our kids' education, guaranteeing access to healthcare and housing, protecting the Constitution and our right to vote, restoring competitive markets for our farmers and ranchers, and guarding our communities and our grid from unregulated hyperscale data centers.
None of it came together overnight. It took weeks of deliberation, with every delegate sharing their voice and their ideas that now stand as the platform and policies of the South Dakota Democratic Party.
I'm proud of the work delegates performed and was honored to hold the gavel throughout the deliberations over the platform and resolutions. The ideas proposed by everyday South Dakotans only get better when more people are at the table. I can only imagine how much richer the conversations would have been with even more representation from across the state.
The thing is: no one is pledging allegiance to a party. Just pledging to protect the United States Constitution.
They were contributing ideas to help advance South Dakota and the United States that they know, love, and want to see succeed. No, not everyone agrees on how to accomplish that, even within a political party. But it's part of the democratic process to seek the broadest possible consensus on ideas and to preserve participation.
To be American is to have choices. And that means that country, state, and community come before party. That's how it's supposed to be.
But I'm not going to pretend everything is fine. Plenty of South Dakotans have walked away from this party over the past dysfunction, and plenty are frustrated with Democratic leaders in Congress and with the DNC. And right now, I see countless friends who feel so disenfranchised in South Dakota that they're registering as Republicans to vote in primaries. While I'm sad to see that this is the state of things in South Dakota, I know it's bigger than me and any one person. And I will do everything in my power to see that fellow South Dakotans have their rights to the democratic process preserved.
The people in that Convention room yesterday showed up anyway, despite all the frustrations, all the challenges, and all the reasons they shouldn't. Heck, many of them share the same frustrations that I just named.
They're not sitting out because we answer to South Dakota, no matter the odds.
Democracy doesn't begin at the ballot box. A party platform or a candidate's journey doesn't begin in the halls of Congress or the White House. It comes from the people, your neighbors in Parker and Timber Lake, Chamberlain and Webster, Vermillion and Mission, who answer you. That's how this system works.
Many of these folks could have called it quits years ago. Many new members could have chosen to stay on the sidelines and wait for someone else to change things.
They didn't.
They showed up because, like you, they care about democratic institutions that actually work. Without participation, we become the story that says our democracy is broken and bad actors can take our state and our country away from us. This room is proof of the opposite, but it has plenty of room to grow.
You have a place at the table in the South Dakota Democratic Party. Whatever you bring, you have a home here as long as I'm in this fight.
If you want a better South Dakota, become a precinct committeeperson. Every county needs a hand, especially the ones that aren't organized yet. Precinct committeepeople build county parties, recruit and support candidates, and set the direction of this party. They work for a future we can all be proud of by representing the voices of the people who share their polling place. It doesn't get much more local than that.
It's the ground floor for changing systems you may not like. It's the place where I got started. And it's where the work really begins.
Want in? Send me a message. I'll help you take the first step.
