Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
South Dakota Secretary of State election, 2010
The South Dakota Secretary of State election of 2010 was held on November 2, 2010. Following state conventions held by both major political parties in the last weekend of June, state senators Ben Nesselhuf (Democrat) and Jason Gant (Republican) received the endorsement from their respective parties. Gant and Nesselhul were joined in the general election by Constitution Party candidate Lori Stacey as the three competed for the seat vacated by incumbent Republican Chris Nelson.
Gant defeated Nesselhuf and Stacey, capturing 54.4% of the vote.
Background
State term limit laws prevented incumbent Chris Nelson from running for a third term in office. He was a candidate for South Dakota's at-large seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2010, but fell to Kristi Noem in the Republican primary election.[1]
General election
Results
| South Dakota Secretary of State, 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Jason Gant |
54.2% | 163,828 | |
| Democratic | Ben Nesselhuf | 39.2% | 118,635 | |
| Constitution | Lori Stacey | 6.6% | 19,971 | |
| Total Votes | 302,434 | |||
| Election results via South Dakota Secretary of State | ||||
Finances
According to Follow the Money, the breakdown of campaign finances for each of the candidates is as follows:
| South Dakota Secretary of State Campaign Finance | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Total Contributions | |||||||||||||
| Jason Gant[2] | $261,205 | |||||||||||||
| Ben Nesselhuf[3] | $192,449 | |||||||||||||
| Lori Stacey[4] | $34 | |||||||||||||
Endorsements
- Communications Workers of America (CWA)[5]
- Secretary of State Project[6]
- South Dakota AFL-CIO[7]
Polling
- See also: Polls, 2010 Secretaries of State
McGovern Center Poll
| McGovern Center Poll - September 20 - October 6, 2010[8] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Percentage | |||
 Jason Gant (R)
|
35% | |||
| Ben Nesselhuf (D) | 23% | |||
| Lori Stacey (CP) | 2% | |||
| Undecided | 38% | |||
| Total voters | 393 | |||
Noteworthy events
Secretary of State Project
- See also: Secretary of State Project
Nesselhuf received the endorsement and financial assistance of the Secretary of State Project (SOS Project), a 527 political organization whose stated purpose had been to "wrestling control of the country from the Republican Party" through the process of "removing their political operatives from deciding who can vote and whose votes will count," namely the office of Secretary of State in many cases.[9][10] The SOS Project had received funding from the George Soros-backed Democracy Alliance.[11]
Partisan conventions
South Dakota does not use primary elections to choose candidates for the statewide offices, like secretary of state. Instead, candidates are nominated through a political party convention or an independent petition. Both candidates in the 2010 election were nominated at party conventions.
Democratic
- State Senator Ben Nesselhuf[12] received the endorsement of the South Dakota Democratic Party.[13]
Republican
- State Senator Jason Gant[14] received the endorsement of the South Dakota Republican Party.[15] over Deputy Secretary of State Teresa Bray and State Representative Thomas Deadrick.[16]
External links
- List of candidates qualified for South Dakota's November 2 General Election
- Green Paper's list of candidates for South Dakota Secretary of State, 2010
General Election candidates
Former candidates
- Teresa Bray for Secretary of State Campaign website
- Tom Deadrick for Secretary of State Campaign website
Footnotes
- ↑ [http://electionresults.sd.gov/applications/st25cers3/resultsSW.aspx?type=swr&eid=2 South Dakota Secretary of State, "Election night results - June 8th, 2010," July 1, 2010
- ↑ Follow the Money.org, "Jason Gant candidate summary," May 16, 2011
- ↑ Follow the Money.org, "Ben Nesselhuf candidate summary," May 16, 2011
- ↑ Follow the Money.org, "Lori Stacey candidate summary," May 16, 2011
- ↑ Communication Workers of America - Endorsements
- ↑ Secretary of State Project - 2010 races
- ↑ AFL-CIO - 2010 Endorsements
- ↑ Dakota Wesleyan University, "Republicans Hold Advantage in Constitutional Races But Most Offices Still Up for Grabs" 21 Oct. 2010
- ↑ Secretary of State Project - 2010 Races
- ↑ American Spectator, "SOS in Minnesota" 7 Nov. 2008
- ↑ Discover the Networks - Democracy Alliance
- ↑ Keloland Television, "Nesselhuf Running For Secretary Of State" 16 Oct. 2009
- ↑ Black Hills FOX "Nesselhuf gets Dems' nod for secretary of state" 26 June, 2010 (dead link)
- ↑ Hog House, "Jason Gant sending SOS signals" 23 Sept. 2009
- ↑ The Republic, "SD GOP nominates state Sen. Jason Gant for secretary of state" 26 June, 2010
- ↑ South Dakota War College, "Rep Tom Deadrick. DDS, ESQ, and now possibly SOS?" 2 Nov. 2009 (dead link)
