South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson, a Republican, has endorsed Democrat Terrence Davis to succeed her, a rare intraparty break that puts the management of elections at the center of the state’s November contest.
Johnson said the office’s integrity, stability and professionalism are at stake, according to a Monday report from The Associated Press. She lost the Republican nomination at the state party convention in June to state Rep. Heather Baxter. Davis, a former South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper, is the Democratic nominee.
The endorsement is consequential because the secretary of state is not merely a political post. The office administers statewide election systems, maintains voter-registration functions, certifies candidates and supports county auditors. Its public elections portal houses voter registration, absentee-ballot, campaign-finance and election-resource services used across all 66 counties.
Johnson’s move does not change the ballot, but it sharpens the contrast between the candidates over how the office should operate. She cited Davis’s law-enforcement experience and education in law and policy. Davis told the AP that the office’s mission is nonpartisan and should serve every resident honestly and fairly.
Baxter has campaigned on election security and changes to office operations. Her campaign platform says she supports county auditors and local control, robust post-election audits, improved hand-counting methods and expanded access to cast-vote records. The site also calls for proof-of-citizenship enforcement, smaller precincts, streamlined business services and stronger campaign-finance accountability.
The AP reported that an earlier version of Baxter’s website advocated hand-counted paper ballots and eliminating voting machines. Baxter said Monday that she changed that language because the secretary of state cannot unilaterally determine how counties tally ballots and because she trusts county auditors to choose what works best. Her current platform says paper ballots should be counted accurately and that all counties should have the tools and training needed to audit electronic tabulator records.
Johnson’s endorsement is also notable because she won the office as a Republican in 2022 and previously emphasized election-integrity concerns herself. The AP reported that party leaders criticized her after she did not initially appear before a legislative committee examining an electronic poll-book contract; lawmakers later subpoenaed her. Johnson also apologized last year after her office released voter-file information that revealed whether some voters were receiving government assistance.
The endorsement alone does not erase South Dakota’s strong Republican lean. No Democrat has held statewide office since 2015, and Republican presidential candidates have carried the state comfortably in recent elections. Still, a sitting election chief backing the opposing party’s nominee gives voters an unusually direct disagreement over competence and election administration from someone who has run the office.
For South Dakotans, the practical decision is broader than rhetoric about election confidence. The next secretary will inherit responsibility for statewide voter services, candidate and campaign-finance records, and coordination with county auditors. Johnson’s intervention turns those administrative choices into a central test for both campaigns before the Nov. 3 general election.
