Has The Democratic Party Given Up On South Dakota? That Would Be A Mistake-- It Has As Many Senators As California And New York

Paula Hawks sent me some spam yesterday. She's the chair of the South Dakota Democratic Party. Before that she was in the state legislature and minority whip from 2015 to 2016. She gave her seat up in 2016 to run against Congresswoman Kristi Noem for the state's at-large congressional district. She ran as a garden variety Democrat in a state where garden variety Democrats are not in favor-- and she lost badly-- 64.1% to 35.9%, dragged down by Hillary, who did even worse (31.7%), winning just 5 of the state's 66 counties.

This is the spam she sent, yesterday, 9-11:

On this day of tribute we engage in remembering our shared values, experiences, and love of community as well as reflecting on our blessings while celebrating our differences. I myself am also celebrating my birthday today! I have shared my birthday with this observation for the past 18 years; it has given me even more reason to appreciate the solidarity I experience every day in my life with those in my community, state, and nation.

Birthdays are a celebration of new beginnings, and while the tragedy of 2001 marked an ending, this year the celebration of my birthday marks another new beginning as we work to reset and rebuild the Democratic Party in South Dakota. The past few weeks have been difficult to endure, difficult to see played out in the press, and difficult to navigate. Many heads have come together to determine a path forward and although we have had some endings as a result of this process-- the closing of our offices in Rapid City and Sioux Falls among other things-- the spirit of the Democratic Party in South Dakota is alive and well and its heart is beating!

Will you please join me in celebrating my birthday and the continued vigor of our party by making a contribution to the SDDP today?

We have a lot of exciting plans for moving the party forward: We will be working hard to elect Democrats in legislative districts all over South Dakota; we will be providing training opportunities for candidates, campaign workers, and volunteers at all levels of government; we will be celebrating the achievements of Democratic efforts across the board. We can make all of these goals a reality with your contribution to the South Dakota Democratic Party today.

Please help make this a birthday to remember, for me and a day to celebrate our Democratic values, for all of us.

Paula is also a member of the DNC. I asked-- very politely and not accusing her of anything-- why she decided to vote against allowing the DNC to host a Climate Crisis debate. I really would love to know. She didn't respond. I'll let you know if she does.

South Dakota, once a bastion of socialism and progressivism, is a beet red state with a PVI of R+14, same as Alabama, Tennessee and Nebraska-- worse than Texas, Alaska Montana, Kansas or Louisiana. Every statewide office is held by a Republican and of the 35 seats in the state Senate, only 5 are held by Democrats. 11 out of 70 House seats are held by Democrats. Kristi Noem is now the governor. Maybe they should try something new there. Bernie and Hillary were virtually tied in the 2016 primary and Bernie won two dozen counties. Take Ziebach County, for example. Bernie beat Hillary 58.9% to 41.1% and had nearly twice as many votes as Trump on primary day. It's an impoverished rural county and around 70% of in inhabitants are native Americans. In the general, Trump narrow beat Clinton. You know who would have won?

Paula Hawks Will Make The South Dakota House Race Competitive

Chris Christie might want to punch former school teacher Paula Hawks in the mouth, but the 2-term progressive state rep has a better chance of being elected to Congress than he has of getting into the White House. I asked some of my friends how progressive she is and they were all pretty positive. "If," one told me, "Stephanie [Herseth-Sandlin, Blue Dog, DINO and the last Democrat to hold the seat] is a 3 on a 1-10 progressive scale, I'd have to say Paula is a 7+."

"If I'm elected to the United States House of Representatives," she explained in her announcement video (above),

I will stand and fight for our family farmers and ranchers [emphasis hers]. I will stand and fight for South Dakota's women and support equal pay for equal work, something our current Representative [Republican Kristin Noem] opposes. I will stand with our seniors and fight for lower drug prices. I will stand up for our young people who are pursuing a higher education to ensure that their degree gives them a career, not decades of student loan debt. I will stand up against Wall Street to make sure that your hard-earned dollars are not swept away by high risk practices that have crippled our economy.

One of my most trusted South Dakota sources, who knows Paula personally, told me:

As far as I know she's a good progressive, and I'm glad to see she's running. Corinna Robinson was a disaster last time, had zero clue about politics, and most Democrats just felt sorry for her and ignored her because she was such an embarrassment to the party. A lot of people complain when the party doesn't field a candidate, like when John Thune runs unopposed. And he probably will again in 2016. But Corinna Robinson demonstrates that sometimes "nobody" is better than an embarrassing candidate. I think Paula will be capable, and hopefully she won't be too coopted by the DCCC/Blue Dog crowd as she tries to win statewide. It'll be hard, though.

Noem narrowly beat Blue Dog Herseth-Sandlin in 2010, 48-46%, but last year she trounced Corinna Robinson 67-33%. Noem spent $2,284,548 in her race against Herseth-Sandlin (who spent $2,180,569), and last year she spent $1,684,069 against Robinson's $167,102. Noem has been an aggressive fund-raiser from outside special interests and has already amassed a $1.2 million war chest for 2016.