Connect with us

South Dakota

As presidential campaign rockets toward end, 7 big things that happened this weekend • South Dakota Searchlight

Published

on

As presidential campaign rockets toward end, 7 big things that happened this weekend • South Dakota Searchlight


WASHINGTON — On the final frantic Sunday of the presidential race, while Vice President Kamala Harris spoke at a Black church service in Michigan, former President Donald Trump told supporters at a Pennsylvania rally that he “shouldn’t have left” the White House after he lost the 2020 presidential election.

At a campaign rally at an airplane tarmac in Lititz, Pennsylvania, Trump again perpetuated the falsehood that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him and claimed that this year’s election would also be stolen because election results could take a while to be counted.

“These elections have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,” he said. “Bunch of crooked people.”

Election officials have warned that results could take days to finalize.

Advertisement

The comments came as new polls showed good news for Harris. A highly regarded pollster in Iowa showed a shocking lead for Harris there and New York Times-Siena College polls of the seven major battleground states showed slight leads for Harris in some Sun Belt swing states, while Trump made gains in the Rust Belt.

As the campaign dwindles to its final hours, here are seven key developments from this weekend:

Trump says he ‘shouldn’t have left’ White House

Trump spent much of his Lititz rally complaining about the election process and media coverage, seeming to repeat his false claim that he was the rightful winner of the 2020 election.

“I shouldn’t have left, I mean, honestly,” Trump said. “We did so well, we had such a great — so now, every polling booth has hundreds of lawyers standing there.”

He also joked about shooters targeting reporters covering his event, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported.

Advertisement

He pointed to protective glass covering him on two sides and noted a press section was on another side of him.

“To get me, someone would have to shoot through the fake news,” Trump said. “And I don’t mind that so much.”

In a statement that seemed to contradict the plain meaning of Trump’s remark, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung denied Trump was encouraging violence against reporters.

“The President’s statement about protective glass placement has nothing to do with the Media being harmed, or anything else,” Cheung wrote. “It was about threats against him that were spurred on by dangerous rhetoric from Democrats. In fact, President Trump was stating that the Media was in danger, in that they were protecting him and, therefore, were in great danger themselves, and should have had a glass protective shield, also. There can be no other interpretation of what was said. He was actually looking out for their welfare, far more than his own!”

Harris heads to the Big Apple

Harris made an unscheduled trip to New York City Saturday, where she made a surprise appearance during the cold open of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” alongside actress Maya Rudolph, who portrays the veep in the live sketch comedy show.

Advertisement

In the three-minute opener, Rudolph approaches a vanity dresser and wishes she could talk to “someone who was in my shoes” as a “Black, South Asian woman running for president, preferably from the Bay Area.”

Rudolph turns toward the faux mirror, and Harris, on the other side, responds, “You and me both, sister.”

They wore identical suits and Harris turned to Rudolph and said that she is “here to remind you, you got this.”

Advertisement

“Because you can do something your opponent cannot do. You can open doors,” Harris said, joking about a recent campaign event where Trump tried to open the door to a garbage truck.

Rudolph cackled, doing an impersonation of Harris’ laugh, before the two women began a pep talk with puns of Harris’ first name.

“Now, Kamala, take my palmala,” Rudolph said. “The American people want to stop the chaos.”

“And end the dramala,” Harris said.

Harris and Rudolph then stood side-by-side and said they were going to vote for “us.”

Advertisement

Harris joked and asked Rudolph if she was registered to vote in the battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Harris headed from New York to Michigan, where she spoke Sunday at the historically Black Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit.

Polling bombshell in a non-swing state

Polling in the latest Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, reported a shocking lead for Harris in a state that Trump easily won in 2016 and 2020, with women and independent voters breaking for the Democratic presidential nominee.

The poll shows Harris leading with 47% of likely voters compared to 44% with Trump, according to the Register.

The Trump campaign quickly called the Iowa poll “a clear outlier,” and instead cited a poll by Emerson College as accurate, which showed the former president having 53% support compared to 43% for Harris.

Advertisement

Trump also took his grievances to his social media site, Truth Social.

“All polls, except for one heavily skewed toward the Democrats by a Trump hater who called it totally wrong the last time, have me up, BY A LOT,” he wrote. “I LOVE THE FARMERS, AND THEY LOVE ME.”

The New York Times/Siena College Sunday polls found that Harris is improving in North Carolina and Georgia while Trump has gained in Pennsylvania and maintains a strong advantage in Arizona. Harris is still ahead in Nevada and Wisconsin, according to the poll, but Michigan and Pennsylvania remain tied. The poll of Georgia showed Harris with a 1-point edge.

Advertisement

Both candidates were within the polls’ margins of error, meaning that the seven swing states could tip to either candidate.

While both Democratic and Republican politicians have expressed confidence in winning the election, polling experts said during a panel hosted by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute in late October there’s no way to know for sure who will control the White House until all the votes are counted.

Kristen Soltis Anderson, founding partner at Echelon Insights, said there’s about a 60% chance that this year’s nationwide polling has been mostly correct, though she emphasized that the people who focus their careers on political polling are dedicated to providing a realistic understanding of where campaigns are headed.

“We are trying our very hardest to get it right,” Anderson said. “Even if you don’t believe in our altruism or even if you don’t believe in our academic and intellectual integrity, believe in nothing else than our financial incentives. You want to be the pollster who was right. It is very good business to be the pollster who is right.”

Jeff Horwitt, partner at Hart Research, said during the panel his firm has wrapped up its polling for this election year and expressed skepticism about the polls that emerge close to Election Day.

Advertisement

“Because our job, for our political clients, is to tell them the contours of the election,” Horwitt said. “How do we convince voters to vote for our candidate? What are the most effective messages? What do we have to think about? So the public polls are seeing now, they’re super interesting, and they’re important, but they’re not actionable.”

Trump welcomes sexist insult

As Trump spent his weekend in a campaign blitz across North Carolina, he welcomed a sexist remark from a rallygoer in Greensboro who suggested that Harris worked as a prostitute.

During the Saturday night rally, Trump questioned whether Harris’ previously worked at a McDonald’s. Her campaign has stated that she worked the summer job in 1983. In a campaign photo opportunity, Trump visited a closed McDonald’s in Pennsylvania where he handed fries to pre-screened people at the drive through.

“It’s so simple,” Trump said. “She’s a significant liar, and when you lie about something so simple, so she never worked there –”

“She worked on a corner,” a man from the crowd shouted.

Advertisement

Trump laughed at the crude comment.

“This place is amazing,” Trump said. “Just remember, it’s other people saying it, it’s not me.”

Harris has significantly gained support with women, according to the Pew Research Center. Trump has often dismissed criticism that he has lagged among women.

During a rally last week in Wisconsin, and in an attempt to win over women voters, Trump said that he would protect women and “I’m going to do it whether the women like it or not.”

Trump repeats ‘father of fertilization’ claim

At a Greensboro, North Carolina, rally Saturday, Trump again called himself “the father of fertilization,” a title he first gave himself during a Fox News town hall with women voters last month.

Advertisement

“I consider myself to be the father of fertilization,” he said Saturday.

The Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, speaks at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27, 2024. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
The Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, speaks at a rally at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Oct. 27, 2024. (Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

The Iowa poll — and other late surveys — showed a stark gender gap, with women voters increasingly preferring Harris.

Nearly twice as many Iowa independent women voters, 57% to 29%, favored Harris. That represents a major gain for Harris since a September survey by the same pollster showed the vice president’s edge with independent women was only 5 percentage points.

Democrats have sought to exploit their advantage with women voters by emphasizing Trump’s record on abortion access. The former president appointed three of the U.S. Supreme Court justices who voted in 2022 to overturn the federal right to an abortion.

A flurry of state-level policymaking on reproductive rights has followed, including restrictions on in vitro fertilization, a common fertility treatment.

Advertisement

Trump has said he opposed an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that outlawed the treatment in the state, but had not previously taken a position on the issue.

Early voters up to 76 million

More than 76 million voters had already cast ballots through early and mail voting by midday Sunday, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.

Roughly half of those have come in states that track voters’ partisanship. About 700,000 — roughly 2% of the total — more Democrats have voted in those states than Republicans, but the numbers include California, where Democrat Joe Biden won more than 5 million more votes than Trump in the 2020 election.

Among the six states — Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Colorado, Idaho and Virginia — that track voters’ gender, women accounted for 54% of the vote, compared to 43.6% for men.

‘Election eve’ blitz

The candidates for president and vice president plan to sprint across the key swing states in the campaign’s final days, with particular focus on Pennsylvania, the largest of the contested states where polling has shown a deadlocked race.

Advertisement

The Harris campaign announced Sunday the vice president would be in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on Monday, the night before Election Day, for rallies and musical performances. Scheduled entertainers and speakers included Oprah Winfrey, The Roots, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.

Harris is also set to hold an event in Allentown, Pennsylvania, a majority-Latino city, on Monday. Part of Harris’ closing message has highlighted racist comments Trump and his supporters have made about Latinos.

After spending much of the weekend in North Carolina, Trump will also hold a rally in Pittsburgh on Monday evening.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ running mate, will be in Milwaukee on Monday.

Trump running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance will hold events in Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania on Monday.

Advertisement

Harris will hold an election night watch party at her alma mater, Howard University, in Washington, D.C.

Trump’s watch party will be at his Mar-a-Lago club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

Advertisement



Source link

Advertisement

South Dakota

FCS Football Recruiting Roundup: South Dakota, Montana State Target 2027 Defensive Standouts

Published

on

FCS Football Recruiting Roundup: South Dakota, Montana State Target 2027 Defensive Standouts


Welcome to another edition of the FCS Football Central Recruiting Roundup.

As spring practice winds down, recruits are still continuing to get on campus to visit schools and meet with their coaching staff. I caught up with some of the latest prospects who received an offer from an FCS program after their visit.

Amarie King | 2027 | DB | 5’7″ 140 lbs | Case High School | Racine, WI

Advertisement

King received his latest offer from South Dakota on April 17 after speaking with defensive coordinator Billy Kirch.

“Coach Kirch told me bout the offer, and that conversation went well. He told me a lot about the school, and asked me what my family and parents do. He said that my film was amazing and that he wanted to offer me,” King said.

“My recruitment is going well, although it is a little stressful here and there, but I am really just being patient and trusting the process, and keep working.”

He has visits to South Dakota and Drake coming up. Last season, he finished with 44 tackles, eight pass breakups, and six interceptions for the Eagles.

Advertisement

Jayden Harris | 2027 | ATH | 6’2″ 170 lbs | Manteca High School | Manteca, CA

Advertisement

Harris picked up his latest offer from Montana State on Friday when he was in Bozeman for the Bobcats’ Junior Day, and meeting with cornerbacks coach Jordan Lee, defensive coordinator Bobby Daly, and head coach Brent Vigen.

“First, it was Coach Lee, then I had meetings with Coach Daly and Coach Vigen, who broke the news while we were talking. They want me to come in and play early. They like my versatility as a defensive back, and that’s why they offered me,” Harris said.

“The visit was cool! The snow was coming down, and the coaches still showed love. Recruiting is going well right now. Most schools that are in touch with me see something in me for sure, especially since I’m a zero-star athlete, so that’s love.  I feel like I’m the best DB in California, and my measurements and production speak for themselves.”

He also has offers from Idaho, Washington State, and Sacramento State. He has upcoming visits to Arizona State and New Mexico.

Advertisement

Last season, he finished with 63 tackles, 11 pass breakups, nine interceptions, six tackles for loss, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and two pick-sixes for the Buffaloes.

Maurice “MJ” Harrell | 2026 | DB | 6’1″ 170 lbs | Hutchinson CC | Hutchinson, KS

Harrell picked up his first Division I offer from Houston Christian on April 17 after he spoke with cornerbacks coach DeMarcus Coleman.

“Coach Coleman called and told me he liked what we saw from the videos I sent him, and that he wanted me to be a part of his program,” Harrell said.

Last season, he finished with 20 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, one sack, and a fumble recovery for the Blue Dragons. Mercyhurst, Division II UTPB, and Missouri Southern are some other schools he has been in contact with.

Advertisement

Jadhari Young | 2026 | WR | 6’1″ 200 lbs | De Anza College | Cupertino, CA

Advertisement

Young received his latest offer from Eastern Illinois on April 15 after speaking with wide receivers coach Tino Smith.

“Coach Smith called me, and we had a long and great conversation. He told me he believes in me and that he thinks I can be great under his coaching,” Young said. “My recruitment has been going great since I graduated two weeks ago. A lot of coaches have expressed a lot of interest in me.”

Young also has offers from Sacramento State, Prairie View A&M, and Chicago State. Last season, he hauled in receptions for 559 yards and seven touchdowns for the Mountain Lions. He was named a Golden Coast Conference First Team selection.

He will be taking his official visit to Eastern Illinois on April 24. Gardner-Webb, West Florida, Monmouth, Stony Brook, and UMass are some other schools he is hearing from.

Advertisement

AJ Moore | 2027 | RB | 5’9″ 200 lbs | College of Dupage | Glen Ellyn, IL

Advertisement

Moore received his first Division I offer from Lindenwood on April 17 after speaking with running backs coach Lane Lawson.

“Coach Lawson called and offered me. He just told me he’d be really excited to have me over and thinks I could be a part of something special with the program they got going over there,” Moore said.

Last season, he finished with 81 carries for 518 yards and five touchdowns, while adding nine receptions for 73 yards and two touchdowns for the Chaparrals, who won their fifth consecutive NJCAA Division III national championship. Moore is working on scheduling his official visit to Lindenwood.

Advertisement

Leshem Nyante | 2027 | OT | 6’5″ 265 lbs | Anna High School | Anna, TX

Nyante picked up his latest offer from Texas Rio Grande Valley on April 17 after he spoke with offensive line coach Jeff Bowen.

Advertisement

“Coach Bowen reached out this morning to officially extend the offer. It was a great talk, and he mentioned they really liked my film and how I would fit their system. So we are focused on building that relationship now,” Nyante said.

“I’m really grateful for how my recruiting process is unfolding so far. Things are definitely moving fast with spring ball right around the corner, and it’s been great seeing the increase in interest every week.”

He also has offers from Arkansas State, Division II Midwestern State, and East Central University. Old Dominion, Texas State, UTEP, and New Mexico are some other schools he is hearing from. Nyante will be taking an official visit to Arkansas State in June.

Advertisement

Matthew Lashley | 2027 | DB | 6’1″ 198 lbs | Riverside City College | Riverside, CA

Lashley received his latest offer from East Texas A&M on April 15 after speaking with safeties coach Luke Jaicks.

Advertisement

“Coach Jaicks called and offered me. He’s a great coach, and I would love to play for him,” Lashley said. “My recruitment is going well; it’s starting to heat up after spring ball.”

He also has an offer from Southern Utah. Last season, he finished with 14 tackles and two interceptions for the Tigers.

Advertisement

Follow FCS Football Central on social media for ongoing coverage of FCS football, including on XFacebook, and YouTube.

Advertisement
Add us as a preferred source on Google





Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

Nature: Prairie chickens in South Dakota

Published

on

Nature: Prairie chickens in South Dakota




Nature: Prairie chickens in South Dakota – CBS News

Advertisement














Advertisement



























Advertisement

Watch CBS News


We leave you this Sunday morning with prairie chickens and sharp tail grouse near Ft. Pierre, South Dakota. Videographer: Kevin Kjergaard.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement



Source link

Continue Reading

South Dakota

Democrats fail to field candidates for a majority of South Dakota legislative seats

Published

on

Democrats fail to field candidates for a majority of South Dakota legislative seats


(SOUTH DAKOTA SEARCHLIGHT) – Democrats are running for 46 of South Dakota’s 105 legislative seats — leaving 56% of seats without a Democratic candidate.

That doesn’t bode well for the party ahead of November, said Michael Card, professor emeritus of political science at the University of South Dakota.

“It doesn’t put them in a position to actually put forward their ideological policy preferences and have much of a success at getting those enacted,” Card said.

In the state Senate alone, Democrats have failed to field a candidate for 22 seats, which is nearly two-thirds of the chamber. In the House, Democrats have failed to field a candidate for 38 seats, which is 54% of the chamber.

Advertisement

There is only one Democratic legislative primary in the state: a state Senate race in District 26, which includes the Rosebud Reservation.

There are no statewide Democratic primaries, after announced candidates for governor and U.S. House dropped out or failed to gather enough petition signatures to make the ballot, leaving one Democrat in each of those races.

Statewide candidates will have less name recognition than Republican candidates ahead of the general election, since they didn’t have primaries, Card said. In the Legislature, Card said Democrats “are guaranteeing they won’t get a majority.”

In contrast, Republicans have primary races for governor, U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Five legislative districts do not have Republican primaries, but do have Republican candidates. There is a Republican candidate running for every legislative seat, except for one House seat in District 27, which includes the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Card said there are several factors leading to poor candidate turnout among Democrats, including a self-fulfilling cycle of failure.

Advertisement

“A lack of winning makes fewer people willing to take a chance on running for office,” Card said. “Why run if I think I’m going to lose?”

Democrats haven’t held a statewide office since 2015, and they haven’t held a majority of either legislative chamber since 1994.

Joe Zweifel, deputy executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party, said the organization worked “really, really hard” to convince Democrats to run for office.

“But you can’t force people to run for office,” said Zweifel, of Sioux Falls, who’s running for a legislative seat himself in District 12.

He’s heard the open seats called a “failure.” But he disagrees, choosing to focus on the Democrats who did step forward.

Advertisement

“We’re running quality, good candidates in those races,” Zweifel said.

The South Dakota Democratic Party hopes to build on legislative successes, such as a new law from Rep. Kadyn Wittman, D-Sioux Falls, that commits state funding to cover the family portion of reduced-price school meals.

“That specifically is a return on investment for our donors, and it shows that Democrats are doing good things for the people of South Dakota,” Zweifel said.

Wittman’s success helped inspire Democratic District 13 House of Representatives candidate Ali Rae Horsted, of Sioux Falls, to take a second run at the Legislature. Horsted ran unsuccessfully for the Senate against Sen. Sue Peterson in 2024, garnering 42% of the vote.

Horsted plans to build on that success and the name recognition she already has in the district. She hopes she’ll have “better odds” in this election, since there are two House seats for every district.

Advertisement

Horsted said it would better serve South Dakota if the state had a more balanced Legislature. While the latest Legislature was 92% Republican, 52% of voters in South Dakota are Republican. South Dakota has the lowest percentage of Democrats, 7.6%, in the Legislature nationwide.

“I think it’s important that people have options on the ballot,” Horsted said, “and people are able to vote for candidates that represent their values and their vision for the future of South Dakota.”

Makenzie Huber is a lifelong South Dakotan who regularly reports on the intersection of politics and policy with health, education, social services and Indigenous affairs. Her work with South Dakota Searchlight earned her the title of South Dakota’s Outstanding Young Journalist in 2024, and she was a 2024 finalist for the national Livingston Awards.

South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Advertisement

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2026 KOTA. All rights reserved.



Source link

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending