SIOUX FALLS — In the Senate chamber of the South Dakota Legislature, a little institutional knowledge goes a long way.

Extreme measures emanating from the House of Representatives are often killed in Senate committees or amended on the floor, establishing an “adult in the room” element of political perspective in Pierre.

The question, of course, is which perspective has the upper hand. South Dakota Republicans are dealing with an intraparty schism between establishment “moderates” with pro-business views and far-right factions such as the Freedom Caucus, touting limited government and election reform.

Control of the Senate in deep-red South Dakota is not a party equation, though Democrats would love to reduce the GOP’s 31-4 edge in seats. Power is calculated by conservative ideologies and voting blocs within the Republican caucus, and there’s ground to be gained heading into the June 4 primary elections.

“These primaries will likely dictate the political philosophy of Senate leadership moving forward,” said veteran Watertown legislator Lee Schoenbeck, the outgoing Senate president pro tempore who is not running for re-election this year.

Schoenbeck is one of 14 senators — 13 Republicans and one Democrat — who have either reached their term limits or decided not to run in 2024. The list includes five members of the influential Senate Appropriations Committee, including longtime Canton legislator Jim Bolin and state GOP chair John Wiik.

That means at least 40% of the Senate’s 35 members will be new when seated for the 2025 legislative session, though some will likely have previous experience in the House.

The leadership void is notable, said Schoenbeck, but “the nature and design of the Senate is that there’s turnover and then new people rise to the challenge.”

18 Senate primaries on GOP side

Intraparty friction was evident in the nature of bills killed in Senate committees last session, from efforts to criminalize drag shows to codifying the disclosure of cast vote records from machine tabulators. More far-right influence could move similar bills onto the floor, widening the party divide.

The changing of the guard and its political consequence has sparked competition.

There are Republican Senate primaries in 18 districts coming in June, compared to 15 in 2022. There is just one primary on the Democratic side, allowing those candidates to focus on the Nov. 5 general election.

Senate Majority Leader Casey Crabtree of Madison faces a District 8 primary challenge from Minnesota transplant and Elkton resident Rick Weible, a prominent adviser to the South Dakota Canvassing electoral activist group.

Crabtree is expected to survive that race, but other ideological clashes are too close to call. 

Schoenbeck has been active behind the scenes recruiting and financially supporting establishment candidates to stem the tide against MAGA-style contenders he once labeled “whack-a-doodles.”

Bolin also expects to get involved, pointing to the future of the Senate and its reputation as a chamber that values policy discussion over intrapartisan drama.

“The Senate has been a legislative body that moves along pretty efficiently, without a lot of blowups,” said Bolin, who is term-limited in District 16. “It would be nice to keep it that way.”

— This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit news organization. Read more in-depth stories at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email every few days to get stories as soon as they’re published. Contact Stu Whitney at stu.whitney@sdnewswatch.org