(6/7/2006)

South Dakota Primary a Referendum on Abortion Ban?

Election sends clear message on voter support of HB 1215, conservative values

By Bob Ellis

Dakota Voice

Last night’s state legislative primary yielded some dramatic upsets and some interesting indications.

In what was perhaps the state’s most discussed legislative race, challenger Elli Schwiesow defeated incumbent Stanford Adelstein for the Republican nominee for District 32 in Rapid City. The race was a hot one since before it officially began, and ran tough all the way through. Schwiesow was often painted as an “extremist” for favoring HB 1215, the recently passed bill which would ban most abortions in South Dakota. Adelstein poured a considerable amount of money into the race, both directly and indirectly through the use of Political Action Committees (PACs), but Schwiesow came out the winner.

Another closely watched race was that of Dist. 26 Democrat Julie Bartling, the champion of 1215 in the state Senate, who won handily in a 3-way race 47%-30%-22%.

The primary outcome was very interesting when the votes on 1215 were considered statewide. All incumbents who voted against HB 1215 who had a primary challenger were defeated:

• Dist. 2 Burt Elliott came in second to H. Paul Dennert 45%-40% who also voted no (both are Democrats)

• Dist. 3 Duane Sutton was beaten 52%-48% by Isaac Latterell

• Dist. 32 Stanford Adelstein was beaten 52%-48% by Elli Schwiesow

• Dist. 33 J.P. Duniphan was beaten 61%-39% by Dennis Schmidt

• Dist. 25 Clarence Kooistra was beaten 61%-39% by Arlen Hauge

The results were equally interesting in looking at the “Yes” voters for 1215. Of all incumbents who voted for 1215 who had primary challengers, all won their party’s nomination to go on to the general election in November:

• Dist. 6 Brock Greenfield, also the head of South Dakota Right to Life, won by a whopping 71%-29%.

• Dist. 6 Paul Nelson came in second in a three-way race at 39%-33%-28%.

• Dist. 10 Gene Abdallah won 58%-42%

• Dist. 12 Hal Wick won a four-way race 37%-27%-27%-9%.

• Dist. 13 Phyllis Heineman won a 4-way race 45%-33%-13%-10%.

• Dist. 18 Garry Moore won 47%-37%-15% in a three-way race

• Dist. 28 Ted Klaudt won a three-way race 48%-35%-17%.

• Dist. 29 Larry Rhoden came out on top of a four-way race 36%-28%-26%-9%; Thomas Brunner, who also voted for HB 1215, was second.

• Dist. 35 Bill Napoli won 65%-35% for state senate (his competitor Alice McCoy also voted for 1215).

• Dist. 35 Jeff Haverly was second in a four-way House race 33%-31%-20%-17%. Mark Kirkeby, the winner, was not in the legislature but recently said he would not have voted for HB 1215.

Voter turnout was 18.9% statewide, a somewhat low figure. Some of the leading turnouts were Haakon County at 87.5%, Perkins County at 63.6%, Hyde had 47.8%, Potter 47.0%, Campbell at 44.1%, Harding 42.8%, Fall River 41.8%, Butte at 39.8%, Clark 38.3%, and Pennington County at 34.8%. Minnehaha County came in at 15.8%.

2004 primary turnout statewide (a presidential election year) was 56.7%. 2002 primary statewide turnout was 42.0%. Aggregate numbers for the 2000 primary turnout, another presidential election year, were not available, but according to the South Dakota Secretary of State's website, turnout among Republicans was 20.97% and 13.09% for Democrats, for an aggregate among the major parties somewhere around 17%.

The state legislative race may have had a ripple effect into some more localized races, as well. In Rapid City, Tom Hennies, who was term-limited out of the legislature, ran against incumbent alderman Sam Kooiker in Ward 2. The $13,000 Hennies received from Stan Adelstein through PACs didn't help as Kooiker trounced Hennies 64%-36%. In fact, as South Dakota bloggers have recently uncovered how a great deal of money from Adelstein has been flowing through a number of PACs, that money may have served less as wind in Hennies' sails and more as a millstone around his neck.

Brock Greenfield, the head of South Dakota Right to Life, was challenged by James Holbeck who ran as a "moderate" Republican. Greenfield's victory was decisive at 71%-29%. Pat Powers of the "South Dakota War College" blog says, "For months conservatives have been disavowed, criticized, kicked around, and generally treated like red-headed step-children. But in tonight's races, it wasn't the night of the incumbent. It wasn't the night of the challenger. The common thread running between nearly all of the major races was that one candidate was considered the more conservative choice, and the other a moderate or less conservative selection."

"Conservatives showed they still control both parties," said South Dakota Family Policy Council executive director Robert Regier. "Almost down the line, the more conservative candidates won, Republicans and Democrats. Values voters showed strong all across the state. The people showed that they want pro-life, pro-family conservatives who believe in lower taxes and limited government.

"Some liberal operatives were predicting that this would be the beginning of a liberal takeover of the legislature. Clearly, they were wrong. Candidates such as Elli Schwiesow campaigned with her faith and conservative principles on her sleeve. Same for many of the other candidates. And they were rewarded with victories," Regier added. "I didn't think it was possible, but the legislature, especially the Senate, may have grown even more conservative than the one that passed the ban on abortion."

This observation was illustrated by the fact that Duane Sutton, J.P. Duniphan and Stan Adelstein, three of the founders of the South Dakota Mainstream Coalition, a group at odds with the conservative majority within the Republican Party, lost yesterday. Every founding member of the South Dakota Mainstream Coalition up for reelection with a challenger, three of the seven founders, lost. The Mainstream Coalition, which has taken a stand in support of the so-called "separation of church and state" and the euthanasia of Terri Schiavo, claims the Republican Party in South Dakota does not reflect the values of average Republicans. However, that notion appears to have been quashed by last night's decision by the voters.

Liberal South Dakota blogs are uncharacteristically silent today.