BY: JOHN HULT
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – South Dakota’s political leaders reacted Sunday to the news that President Joe Biden has withdrawn from the U.S. presidential race.
Dan Ahlers, executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, said the party has taken no position on Biden’s choice of successor as 2024 presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris.
The South Dakota Democratic Party’s national delegates, he said, had remained committed in recent weeks to supporting Biden at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which begins Aug. 19 in Chicago. Calls for Biden to step down have grown since a June 27 debate performance widely described as “disastrous.”
South Dakota’s DNC delegates are Shane Merrill, Jessica Meyers, Deb Knecht and Dennis Olson. The party’s website has a full list of delegates and alternates.
“We’re not taking any position at this time,” Ahlers said of a Harris endorsement. “Our delegates are all committed to Biden. Now Biden has stepped out of the race and is putting his backing behind Kamala Harris. I’m not sure what this will all mean for our delegates. I know up until now we’ve stood behind the president.”
Ahlers said the party awaits guidance from the national party on how the nomination process will play out. The state party will have more to share after consultation with national party leaders and other state-level leaders, Ahlers said. He spoke to South Dakota Searchlight shortly before a virtual meeting with the Association of State Democratic Committees.
The news of Biden’s withdrawal came as a surprise, he said. He started his Sunday “dressed in a Transformers t-shirt” with plans to attend a comicon called Voices Against Cancer in Sioux Falls.
“I didn’t expect to be doing this today,” Ahlers said of the association meeting.
Ahlers expressed gratitude to Biden for “all he’s done for South Dakota” saying the decision to step down was “just another example of his selfless leadership.”
Ahlers pointed to federal dollars funneled to the state for child care, broadband infrastructure, roads and bridges, water and sewer infrastructure for workforce housing, among other projects. Much of that funding came through the American Rescue Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
“He has been the most impactful president of our lifetime,” he said.
Republicans react
Gov. Kristi Noem was the first of the state’s political leaders to react publicly to the Biden news. posting on X, formerly Twitter, and on Facebook, at 1:05 p.m. CST Sunday. Biden made his announcement in a letter posted to social media at 12:46 p.m.
Noem said the withdrawal was “the right decision for our nation.” The Democratic Party’s eventual nominee, she said, will have to answer for inflation, violent crime and “weak foreign policy.”
“Donald Trump is the leader America needs to get this country back on the right track,” she wrote.
Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican and Senate minority whip, reacted shortly afterward, hitting similar themes in a post from his campaign account on X.
“Whether it’s Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, or someone else, it doesn’t matter who’s at the top of the ticket. The Democrat Party is synonymous with higher prices, open borders, and global instability. The American people want a change. Republicans will deliver it this November,” Thune posted.
Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota, posted a statement calling Biden’s move the right decision at 4 p.m. CST Sunday. He echoed Thune and Noem, saying the “fundamentals of the race” haven’t changed. The Democrats’ nominee, he wrote, “will also have had a hand in his policies driving inflation, the border crisis, and overregulation.”
Republican Senator Mike Rounds had not posted a reaction as of 4:45 p.m. Sunday. A representative from his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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