Kenneth Stofferahn Longtime political figure Kenneth Stofferahn passed away on March 18, 2024, aged 89. A three-term public utilities commissioner, Stofferahn also made unsuccessful bids for U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and Governor. His obituary does an excellent job of explaining his unusual political career: Widely known across South Dakota, Ken traversed the state countless times during his long career in farming, activism, politics, and insurance. . . . Perceiving the need for farmers to band together to ensure a fair return for their hard work and investment and drawing upon a family tradit ..read more

Governor Kristi Noem’s “VETO” branding iron, made for her by Lt. Governor Larry Rhoden, after its first use in 2019. The branding iron will be unused in 2024. Governor Kristi Noem announced today that she has signed the state budget bills, the last remaining bills before her for consideration from the 99th Legislative Session this year. The announcement also notes that the Governor did not veto any legislation this year. That makes the 2024 session the first in nearly seventy years without any gubernatorial vetoes. Only two other times in South Dakota has a legislative session ended without at ..read more

As part of this blog’s continuing quest to inform, the Online Almanac of South Dakota Politics now includes a new page, listing the presidents of each of the state’s six state universities, as well as the executive directors of the South Dakota Board of Regents. You can see that here. The Campanile, on the campus green of South Dakota State University in Brookings ..read more

This week, Lee Strubinger, the Politics & Public Policy Reporter for South Dakota Public Broadcasting, released a nine-part serial podcast on the impeachment of Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg and the accident near Highmore that killed pedestrian Joe Boever and led to Ravnsborg’s impeachment. You can find all nine episodes here, as well as on podcasting apps, and I highly recommend that you do. As far as I know, this is the first serial podcast to focus on a South Dakota political history topic, and it is a major contribution. Strubinger wrote and produced all nine episodes, which vary i ..read more

As the year comes to a close, we think back on the year that was. The year began as Gov. Kristi Noem was sworn in to her second term as governor, while this blogger began his service in the State House of Representatives. The year saw victories and defeats; anniversaries and final farewells. Here is a look at some of the South Dakota history made in 2023: Final Farewells Jim Abourezk This year we bid farewell to many key players in South Dakota politics. On February 24, former U.S. Senator Jim Abourezk, a unique and colorful figure in South Dakota history, died on his 92nd birthday. He was fol ..read more

The news reports this week that Sen. Reynold Nesiba is considering legislation to create a commission to recommend a new South Dakota state flag. The idea follows recent efforts in Utah and Minnesota to adopt new state flags. As a state legislator, I’m not taking a position on this idea right now, but as a South Dakota history blogger, I would share a few thoughts. Several years ago, this blog posted an overview of South Dakota’s state emblems: everything from the bird and the flower to the musical instrument and the dessert. Prominent among our state emblems is the state flag, which includes ..read more

Joe Kirby (the old one) I recently read an interesting post by Joe Kirby, the author of SiouxFallsJoe.com and a fellow enthusiast for South Dakota history. Kirby’s great grandfather and namesake, Joe Kirby, was South Dakota’s leading trial attorney in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The younger Kirby’s blog post recounts his ancestor’s representation of German farmers from Hutchinson County who opposed the draft during World War I: The first Espionage Act case argued before the Supreme Court happened to be from South Dakota. In 1917, thirty German socialist farmers from Hutchinson County, Sou ..read more

This post is a little off-topic from South Dakota history, but it’s a continuation of my experimentation with ChatGPT. In the days since a successful motion to vacate led to the removal of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, House members have struggled to find a candidate for speaker who can win the support of the majority of the body. The predicament caused me to compare the U.S. House to the British House of Commons. In the UK, the Speaker of the House of Commons is nonpartisan, nonpolitical role. MPs elect a Speaker from amongst their number, but once chosen, th ..read more

The sad news comes that Tim Kessler, 66, passed away on Tuesday, October 10, 2023. Kessler was a prominent businessman in Aberdeen, where for years he owned and operated his family grocery store, Kessler’s. South Dakota is built upon the public service of civic-minded leaders who give back to their communities, and there is no better example than Tim Kessler. He became involved with state politics when he supported Gov. George S. Mickelson, and he was a friend to every governor since. He was a longtime member of the Game Fish and Parks Commission, where he brought his considerable talents to a ..read more

The Dakota Scout reported today that Governor Kristi Noem is exploring options to keep Mount Rushmore open if the federal government is shutdown on October 1. This blogger offered a brief comment for that story, recalling similar efforts by Governor Dennis Daugaard exactly ten years ago, when the federal government shutdown in early October 2013. Beginning in 2018, this blogger and other members of Governor Daugaard’s staff began to compile accounts of important events in his administration. Below is a short historical sketch written about the 2013 efforts to reopen Mount Rushmore: October 20 ..read more