Statement from Heather Baxter, Republican Nominee for South Dakota Secretary of State
September 21, 2026

On Saturday, September 19, the sitting Republican Secretary of State endorsed the Democrat candidate in a statement posted in the Dakota War College.  News spread of this drastic departure of traditional behavior, and soon reached even the New York Times.  Secretary Monae Johnson is entitled to her endorsement. South Dakota voters are entitled to the rest of the story.

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After considerable reflection, the Secretary of State Monae Johnson announced she is personally endorsing Democrat Terrence Davis. She says this office is “too important to entrust to someone simply because of the letter beside that person’s name.” That line is catchy, but it is also an argument against the process Republicans just used to nominate their candidate—and against the clear difference between the two party ideologies that still exist, whether she admits it or not.

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In June, Republican delegates from across this state considered the record and nominated me over Johnson, 59 percent to 41 percent. That election process was a clear picture of self-government in action. Delegates did not gather in Rapid City to play games. They gathered to choose the candidate who they felt will best carry Republican principles into one of South Dakota’s highest constitutional offices: the office that runs our elections, business filings, notary commissions, and public records.

The letter beside a name is not decoration. It tells voters what governing philosophy a candidate will take into that office, what principles they believe in, and which platform they are expected to honor.  

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The Secretary of State is a constitutional office of statewide trust, standing among the highest offices in South Dakota. The person who holds it is not merely an office clerk.  That person implements the legal standard for who may vote, how ballots are handled, whether county auditors are treated as partners or obstacles, how voter rolls are kept, and whether the public can see the process that produces a result. Put a Republican in that chair, and the office is accountable to a platform that firmly believes South Dakota is a constitutional republic of citizens, families, and local communities. Put a Democrat in that chair, and the office is accountable to a national and state party syndicate that has spent a decade trying to loosen the rules of citizenship, weaken voter-ID protections, nationalize election administration, expand mass absentee balloting, restrict gun rights, and destroy God’s design for the nuclear family.

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That is the choice on November 3. It is not a personality contest. It is a question of who holds the third-ranking constitutional office in this state charged with securing national critical infrastructure, maintaining accurate voter rolls, and protecting the personal information of hundreds of thousands of South Dakota voters.

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Republicans already wrote the standard.  The fundamental principles of the South Dakota Republican Party are rooted in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the State of South Dakota.  Those documents are not campaign props. They are the rulebook. We believe the strength of our nation derives from an adherence to Judeo-Christian values. We support our nation’s heritage of religious freedom, freedom of speech, and personal responsibility. Republicans recognize we must be proactive in defending freedom at every level.

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Our platform is clear about what we believe:

• Individual liberty, because rights come from God, not from government, and government authority proceeds only from the consent of the governed.

• Limited, transparent government, confined to its proper role.

• The rule of law.

• The right to bear arms.

• The integrity of the family and the American moral tradition.

• Election integrity as a duty, not a slogan.

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The South Dakota Republican platform says traditional American families should be encouraged and that moral values should be supported. It affirms the sanctity of human life, including the unborn. It says parents have the first and primary responsibility of educating their children. It says the most effective government is the government closest to the people. And it says Republican members, leaders, and elected officials are responsible to support that platform and the constitutions of South Dakota and the United States.  That is the South Dakota most families still recognize: church on Sunday, work on Monday, parents raising their own children, neighbors who know each other by name, and a state that does not need Pierre or Washington to tell it what a family is.

 

Democrats wrote a different standard.  Today's Democrat party is not the party of the 60's or 70's.  Nationally, Democrats have pledged to restore Roe as the law of the land, pass federal voting bills designed to override state election laws, and treat voter-ID and citizenship requirements as obstacles instead of safeguards. It folds immigration status into its list of protected categories and talks about the vote as a right to be expanded, not a citizenship duty to be protected.

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The South Dakota Democratic Party’s 2026 platform (adopted June 6, 2026) calls for nationally funded community-based health care for all, removal of government regulation of body autonomy and gender-affirming care for people of all genders including youth, protection of abortion and gender-care providers from retaliation, full legalization of medical cannabis, a public long-term care insurance system, and recognition of a right to die. On labor it seeks repeal of right-to-work laws. Voting and government items include same-day and automatic voter registration at 18 and promoting green new deal energy. 

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Though the parties rest on different documented principles, those principles clearly display the moral substance of the candidates who adopt them.

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A Secretary of State does not write legislation, but does decide whether the office will treat citizenship as an enforceable registration requirement, whether county control will be honored, whether paper and auditability will be treated as essentials or as inconveniences, and whether South Dakota will keep its own election standards or import the national Democratic agenda one administrative decision at a time.

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That is why the letter beside the name matters.

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Election integrity is written into our platforms and our Constitution. The Republican National Committee platform calls for secure elections, including voter identification, paper ballots, and proof of citizenship. It rejects the idea that citizenship is a technicality. The South Dakota Republican platform is just as direct. We support all efforts to guarantee the integrity of our elections. We support a voting system that requires the vote to be verifiable by paper balloting. We support the physical presentation of state- and tribal-issued photo IDs. We oppose internet voting and same-day voter registration. The South Dakota Constitution already limits the franchise to United States citizens and authorizes the Legislature to establish reasonable requirements to ensure the integrity of the vote. 

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A sitting Secretary of State who asks Republicans to ignore their own nomination is also asking them to treat all of these standards as negotiable. This office is too important for a consolation prize.  The next Secretary of State will inherit statewide election systems, business services, statutory deadlines, county relationships, public records, notary commissions, and the public’s confidence, and stands third in line below the Governor.  

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Elections in South Dakota are run in the counties. The Secretary of State should equip county auditors, not bypass them. Voting systems must be compliant with state and federal law. Counties should have  all the tools, training, and auditable records they need to verify those results. Local officials are the front line of self-government.

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I will improve our recently instituted post-election audits so they are more than a press release. I will work to make results inspectable, ensure public transparency and auditability, and audit the voter rolls and keep them current. We will ensure only citizens are voting, and voter roll maintenance processes will be examined and maximized to keep the most accurate and current lists possible.  I will collaborate with our state and federal partners where the law requires or allows and will use all the resources available to South Dakota to maximize efficiency and accuracy. 

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This office is also the front door for small business, LLCs, corporations, UCC filings, notaries, and apostilles.  I have run my own businesses. I know the challenges business owners face.  Business services should be responsive, transparent, searchable, and I will remove as much red tape and excessive fees as possible.  

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During my time as a State Representative, I sponsored and helped pass legislation to reduce excessive fees for public records (HB1062), increase transparency for public records (HB1062), citizens only voting (SB68 & SB175) allow business owners to choose when to file their annual report (HB1102),  and reduced costs for homeowners and contractors (SB3).  I've stood with property and business owners, fought for parents and health freedom, moved to secure our elections, and defended liberty.  I am South Dakota native, my grandfather started Crazy Horse, and my family still works on the mountain today.  I've invested my life in South Dakota and will continue to give my all to ensuring South Dakota is the best place to live and raise a family.  

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My opponent, Terrance Davis, is a recent transplant to South Dakota with no proven public record or authentic knowledge of South Dakota, it's people, or our way of life. 

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Secretary Johnson's record speaks for itself.  Unkept campaign promises, legislative subpoenas for failure to answer basic questions, private voter information disclosed, and unnecessary lawsuits that could have been prevented by active leadership. 

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Secretary Johnson stated that voters should examine the records. I agree.

Examine hers.

Examine his.

Examine mine.

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Then notice what this endorsement actually is: an incumbent who lost her own party’s nomination now trying to decide the general election from the sidelines, while still serving as the chief election official of South Dakota. She is asking Republicans to ignore the convention, ignore the platform they adopted, ignore the clear difference between the two party agendas, and hand one of this state’s highest constitutional offices to a Democrat.  Secretary Johnson and I disagreed on the direction of this office — that’s exactly why Republican delegates overwhelmingly chose a change in June.  It’s not surprising she’d rather back someone who won’t change what she’s built. Pseudo Republicans have long infiltrated the party, changing their voter registrations from Democrat to Republican. South Dakota’s illusion of ruby red is being exposed!  This is a real dynamic to note: an outgoing officeholder crossing party lines to back the opposing party’s nominee, in a race where their own party ousted them in a primary/convention, is a notable ‘sore loser or good-faith institutionalist.

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I did not come to this race to keep the status quo.  I came to change how the office treats voters, county auditors, families, and small businesses.  I will keep the Secretary of State’s office aligned with the Constitution, codified law, and the traditional family values that make South Dakota the best place in America to live, work, and raise a family. 

 

That is what I mean by Open Books and Honest Elections.

 

Republican delegates have already chosen their nominee. Governor Larry Rhoden has called on our party to stand together in November. I am asking every South Dakotan—Republicans, independents, and anyone tired of being told to sit down and trust the process—to do the same on November 3.

 

Thank you for your trust.

 

Together, we will keep this state in the hands of the people who built it.

 

Heather Baxter
Republican nominee for South Dakota Secretary of State

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