Maybe gubernatorial debates are like pancakes. The first one is always a little funky. Fortunately, there are a couple more debates scheduled this month. Maybe, like pancakes, they’ll get better as the griddle gets hotter.
The first debate from the four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for governor is in the books. There were some things viewers learned from the candidates and some things they didn’t.
Dusty Johnson: Has a plan for that
Of all the candidates on the stage, Johnson spent the most time wearing a bullseye because of his role as a member of Congress. Certainly things would be better in South Dakota, the other candidates asserted, if Washington, D.C., weren’t so screwed up.
For his part, Johnson somehow managed to defend Congress. He must be thankful he got through the hour without anyone asking him how he’s enjoying his two week vacation from Congress while the nation is suffering through the longest partial government shutdown in history.
Johnson seemed to have a “plan” for everything from improving education to the smart way to attract data centers. Too often he seemed like that kid in high school who, late on Friday afternoon, would be the one to remind the teacher that she forgot to assign homework.
Larry Rhoden: Unplugged and unpolished
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the event was how uncomfortable the governor seemed in the debate setting. Kristi Noem didn’t pick him to be her lieutenant governor for his debating skills. She chose him because he was a savvy veteran of the Legislature.
In his short time in the governor’s office, Rhoden has used those skills to shepherd through a variety of significant bills, and he needs to talk about his successes more. When he tried to talk about them in the debate, he stumbled, saying twice that his administration delivered the largest economic development project in state history but never actually identifying the project.
Jon Hansen: The one-man gang
The speaker of the state House repeatedly made his case as the most conservative candidate in the race to the point where it seemed like his lectern should be leaning to the right.
Listening to Hansen, it was easy to envision that he was the only member of the Legislature as he claimed to “pass” a variety of bills all by himself. It was interesting to see Hansen lay claim to raising the state sales tax as a method to lower property taxes. He did this while dodging criticism from Johnson about South Dakotans facing higher costs after the Legislature and Rhoden endorsed three sales tax increases.
Toby Doeden: Trump 2.0
While all the candidates have, to one degree or another, sucked up to Donald Trump, Doeden has cast himself as the candidate forged in the president’s image — a rich guy who will fight for the common man. Trump has been such an inspiration to Doeden that it’s easy to believe he would have ridden down a golden escalator if there was one in Aberdeen.
Doeden’s claims that he will shake up things in Pierre seem hollow without specifics. He makes charges about corruption and overspending, yet seems to have little understanding of how a state budget is put together. There are probably cuts to be made, but much of the state budget is dependent on matching federal dollars, and Dusty Johnson can only shoulder so much of the blame.
KELO: Hey gang, let’s put on a debate!
For the most part, the debate moderators gave up their role as journalists to have questions offered by South Dakota citizens. No one knows how the deeply Republican candidates felt about taking a question from a chamber of commerce executive who was sitting in front of a large historical portrait of a Democrat, Bobby Kennedy.
The moderators did allow one question from Pierre correspondent Bob Mercer. The debate could have used more of Mercer and his insights. As the longest serving political reporter in the state, he has more legislative institutional memory than all four of the candidates on the stage.
When moderators did ask their own question, Johnson was offended by having to assign a letter grade to Noem’s tenure as governor. Maybe he’s just afraid of the grade he’d get for his time in Congress.
For their part, Rhoden and Doeden made much of how Noem kept the state open during the pandemic with no mention of the fact that the state was often leading the league in per capita COVID-19 deaths.
Whoever scheduled the debate instinctively knew that it wasn’t ready for primetime. It’s likely KELO schedulers wanted to have the first debate, but didn’t want to face the prospect of preempting a March Madness basketball game. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, all they had to cancel was “Celebrity Bowling” or whatever passes for entertainment at that early hour.
One of these four men will quite likely be the next governor of South Dakota. Let’s hope they, and viewers, are better served in the next debates.
— This commentary was written by Dana Hess of South Dakota Searchlight, an online news organization.
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