South Dakota’s Republican secretary of state endorsed a Democrat to replace her after losing her party’s nomination, putting party loyalty and office control at issue.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Saturday that Secretary of State Monae Johnson endorsed Democratic nominee Terrence Davis over Republican nominee Heather Baxter.
Johnson made the move after Republican delegates rejected her bid for another term and chose Baxter. Voters now face a three-way November contest for the office that oversees elections and business services.
Johnson said her experience drove the endorsement. She said she had spent more than a decade in the office and considered Davis “the candidate best prepared to protect the office.”
She urged Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and independents to look beyond party labels. Johnson asked them to judge the candidates’ records and temperament before voting for Davis.
That went far beyond declining to help Baxter. Johnson asked South Dakota Republicans to reject their own nominee and put a Democrat in charge of a statewide office.
Republican delegates chose Baxter over Johnson at their June convention. The published figures put the result at 59% to 40%, while Baxter described it as 59% to 41%.
The one-point discrepancy does not change the outcome. Republican delegates chose a new direction by a clear margin, and Baxter said that vote carried a plain message.
Baxter said, “In June, Republican delegates considered the record and nominated me over incumbent Secretary of State Monae Johnson, 59 percent to 41 percent.”
“That was not confusion. That was self-government in action,” she added.
Baxter also rejected Johnson’s call to look past party affiliation. She argued that the letter beside a candidate’s name tells voters which governing philosophy that person will bring to the office.
The Republican nominee said she and Johnson had disagreed over the office’s direction. The available statements did not identify the specific changes that divided them.
But the political sequence is clear. Delegates removed Johnson as their standard-bearer, and Johnson then backed the opposing party’s nominee rather than the Republican selected to replace her.
South Dakota House Speaker Jon Hansen condemned the endorsement and urged voters to support Baxter. He called Johnson’s move a “Huge mistake!” in a post on X.
Hansen tied the dispute directly to election administration. “Do NOT hand our elections over to the Democrats!” he wrote before calling for a vote for Baxter.
His warning carries extra weight in a state where President Donald Trump won 63% of the vote in 2024. Johnson is asking voters in that Republican state to cross party lines.
Davis welcomed the endorsement and acknowledged the partisan divide. “Monae and I come from different political parties,” the Democratic nominee wrote on Facebook.
“We will not agree on every issue. That is exactly why her confidence in me means so much,” Davis added.
Johnson’s endorsement gives Davis an argument that reaches beyond his party. It also gives Baxter a direct case to Republican voters: Their delegates chose change, and the defeated incumbent refused to accept that choice.
Baxter, Davis and Libertarian nominee Tamara Lesnar are expected to compete in the November 3 election. Johnson’s office and the Davis campaign did not immediately answer requests for further comment.
The race now turns on more than résumés. It asks whether voters view Johnson as an experienced officeholder protecting her work or a rejected incumbent resisting her party’s decision.
Republican delegates already made their choice. Party labels matter most when control of elections is on the ballot, and voters deserve leaders who respect lawful political decisions.
