Wow! The SD Democrats can’t even win when they win.

South Dakota Democrat switches to GOP after being elected to Senate

The already large number of Republicans in the South Dakota Legislature got a little larger today with the announcement by Sen-elect Eldon Nygaard that he would be switching his party affiliation to Republican just weeks after being elected into the Senate as a Democrat.

Nygaard, who represents District 17 covering Clay and Turner counties, said in a statement he made the move because his philosophy regarding government’s role in society is more in line with the Republican Party.

That being said, Nygaard is certainly free to do whatever he thinks is right regarding party affiliation…just as say, ex-US Senator Spector in Pennsylvania, or in the past, the party change of Scott Heidepriem did. It’s also understandable that District 17 Democrats might feel a bit ruffled about it all. C’est la vie.

This additional evidence of the political dominance of the GOP in South Dakota politics, gives a heavier burden to the Elephant herd, to insure that the party doesn’t fall into the trap of the 90’s GOP Congresses that decided that now that they were in charge, they could do the same kinds of crap that the Donkey party does, and get away with it. (For that matter, this is the same caveat that the new House of Representatives needs to keep in mind…right, Kristi?)

The Chief seriously wonders where the SD Democrats go from here to regain some life…just as an intellectual exercise, mind you, not a shift in the vote.
We can take the SDGOP’s party dominance isn’t based on the type of machine politics and corruption that much of the urban Democratic dominance is rooted in elsewhere in the country. Also, the very real contest between SHS and Noem shows that sizable numbers of registered SD GOP-ers are willing and able to swing across party lines if the spirit so moves them. That thought, if nothing else, should help the GOP keep a good sense of political situational awareness.