SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — In a surprising political maneuver, South Dakota’s Republican Secretary of State, Monae Johnson, has officially broken with her party to endorse the Democratic challenger for her seat. Johnson, who lost her bid for renomination at the state GOP convention in June, stated that she is crossing party lines because “the integrity, stability, and professionalism of this office is at stake.”
Johnson, a Republican, is throwing her support behind Democratic candidate Terrence Davis, citing his extensive background in law and policy, as well as his professional experience as a state trooper. Writing in the conservative politics blog South Dakota War College, Johnson acknowledged the controversy her move would likely generate. “I am a Republican. Terrence is a Democrat. I understand that this decision will disappoint some people in my party and anger others,” she wrote.
The endorsement stands in direct opposition to the Republican nominee, Heather Baxter, a state lawmaker who has aligned herself with the agenda of Donald Trump. Baxter’s campaign has heavily focused on themes surrounding “inaccurate voter rolls, mail-in ballots, and voting machine issues.” Previously, Baxter’s campaign website explicitly advocated for the elimination of voting machines in favor of hand-counted ballots—a position widely associated with debunked conspiracy theories suggesting that electronic tabulation systems are susceptible to rigging.
While hand-counting remains a popular talking point among certain factions, experts have repeatedly warned that the process is significantly more prone to human error and substantially slower than machine tabulation. Although Baxter has recently moderated the language on her website, stating that she lacks the authority to unilaterally change how ballots are tallied, her earlier calls for the removal of voting machines remain a central point of contention.
Baxter downplayed the impact of the outgoing Secretary of State’s endorsement. “It’s not surprising that she’d rather back someone who won’t change what she has done,” Baxter said in a statement.
The political landscape in South Dakota is heavily skewed toward the GOP, with no Democrat having held statewide office since 2015. The state has also consistently voted for Donald Trump by wide margins in recent presidential elections. Because of this, it remains unclear whether Johnson’s endorsement will significantly shift the needle in the upcoming election.
The friction between Johnson and her party reached a boiling point earlier this year, when GOP leadership soured on her performance. According to South Dakota Republican Party chair Jim Eschenbaum, delegates lost faith in Johnson after she failed to appear before a legislative committee to answer questions regarding a state contract awarded to an electronic poll book company—an absence that ultimately resulted in her being issued a subpoena.
For his part, the Democratic nominee, Terrence Davis, has sought to frame the office as a neutral body. “The secretary of state’s office is nonpartisan,” Davis said, emphasizing his commitment to serving all residents “honestly and fairly.”
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