South DaCola

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Christine Erickson

1st Amendment Christine Erickson David ZoKaites Elections Greg Jamison Joe Batcheller Mike Huether SF City Council Sierra Broussard Sioux Falls Zach DeBoer

Who is all in on City Election?

l3wis 3Comments

That’s a great question, we are still slow to have a full docket with NO ONE yet announcing for the SE District (Barranco is NOT running for a 2nd term as he is running for State Auditor instead).

AT-Large; Rich Merkouris will likely run for a 2nd term. No challengers have announced yet.

AT-Large; Cole is NOT running for a 2nd term and is actually unethically chairing a replacement candidate’s campaign, whose name we will not speak. No other challengers have announced.

Central; This is my district and I am excited to say there are a full slate of candidates;

Zak Okuwe (Nurse, Non-Profit founder, immigrant activist)

Thomas Werner

Matt McKinley (landlord)

Sierra Broussard (she may run for at-large)

Bob Trzynka (attorney)

Zach DeBoer (hasn’t announced yet) (artist)

Mayor;

Mike Huether (Maybe)

Marshall ‘Illegally living out of district’ Selberg (Big f’ing Maybe)

Greg Jamison (Maybe)

Christine Erickson

Jamie Smith

Joe Batcheller

David Zoikaites

I think Erickson will make the runoff no matter who runs, BUT, I couldn’t tell you who will be up against her since half of the challengers could do it. Some argue it will be Erickson vs. Smith because it will be the conservative candidate vs. the progressive candidate and they will be the top two vote getters since we are a purple town, or at least 7% of us are 🙁 I’m not buying it because I think Jamison and Batcheller have Smith beat on city government knowledge and there may still be some morons out there that think MMM is still great, so yes, he has a chance of being in the runoff 🙁

1st Amendment Christine Erickson David ZoKaites Elections Greg Jamison Jamie Smith Joe Batcheller Sioux Falls

Joe Batcheller announces bid for Sioux Falls mayor

l3wis 5Comments

We knew Joe was running, and as I have mentioned in the past he has the best resume. I have been telling folks lately though I am seriously looking at ALL of the mayoral candidates since they all have great qualities to be mayor, they also have their faults, but it will be interesting to see who will rise above those obstacles.

Erickson no doubt is the favorite, mainly for her exuberate personality, and this will be a hard to combat. Also, with likely being the ONLY woman running, she may garner a lot of female support. I did hear her on a podcast recently and she leans MAGA and seems to be supporting deportation efforts in Sioux Falls. If she continues the ‘Trump Talk’ I’m not sure this helps her, except amongst those mouth breathers, and when you are campaigning to 7% of the voting public in Sux, it’s wise to stay on a clear message.

I have no doubt if Jamison decides to run, he will have a polished campaign that is consistent on policy ideas, I also have NO doubt Joe will do the same. Couldn’t tell you much about the Smith campaign since it seems their strategy so far is let’s keep it a secret he is running and when individuals reach out to you for help or promotion you just ignore them. If I had a dollar for every DEM that told me about the unresponsiveness of his campaign, I could fund his campaign. Not a good look. I do like Jamie though and believe he would be the most populist candidate wanting to get things done for the citizens and not just for the Developer Welfare Queens (though working in Real Estate may present conflicts). Also, his unresponsiveness may be a sign of how he will do as a mayor.

If any of the candidates tell me they will end TIFs in this city (or at least make them only for affordable housing) I would support the candidate, hands down. TIFs are straddling our city with uncontrollable infrastructure needs and no way to pay for them. It also hurts our county and school district with property tax dollars they have to make up for from the state (which withholds crucial funding). I think if there is a candidate that addresses property taxes and TIFs they will have a good chance of winning. In fact, if any of the candidates running put property taxes as part of their campaign agenda they would at least get people interested in your other campaign promises.

This next city election will be about the economy, hands down, and by election time next year, it will likely be in the toilet. The candidates will need to talk about kitchen table ideas, because swimming pools and event centers are a thing of the past.

Christine Erickson Elections

I went to a Chamber Mixer and it turned into a Mayoral announcement

l3wis 12Comments

Besides Erickson announcing her mayoral candidacy today, she also said she is engaged (to another human being 🙂 Heels pulled all the stops, besides having the entire board of directors from the Chamber there in support, she had many current and former local politicians there, including Greg Neitzert (I am going to assume he will be assisting the campaign in one way or another, or maybe considering an At-Large run for council? I wondered why I haven’t gotten any short story texts from him in awhile? As for Christine herself, she looked like she hit the salon and the spa right after the gym, damn, she looked good! Pay attention future candidates! Hit the gym NOW! If Christine does become mayor, she will make many precedents; First female mayor, First city councilor to be elected mayor, and first Single mayor? Though she staged some engagement 🙂

Let’s not fool ourselves, we should just have the election for mayor next week and install the winner next year, why waste a year of our time when we know who the next mayor will be. I hate the predictability of this city, but you know what they say; Sh!t in, Sh!t out.

*This is in no way an endorsement of Erickson. I even told folks that I may undervote in the mayoral race. I am going to try to remain as neutral as possible with all the candidates. I think Jamie and Joe are great candidates that need to be explored also, but we know how this goes by now folks.

Christine Erickson Elections Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Mayor Race

Erickson to run for mayor

l3wis 14Comments

Well, it hasn’t been a secret that Christine Erickson is running for mayor. She confirmed the news with me over a month ago but was working out logistics before announcing. We actually had a long and productive conversation. I pretty much told her it was ‘hers to lose’ unless some dark horse business person announces. I also asked her feelings about working with council and she pretty much said she will stay out of their way unless they ask for assistance from the mayor’s office. Now, granted, all mayoral candidates say that, and never deliver, because the power goes straight to their heads and it irks them that 8 part-time councilors are telling them how to run a city. They are not, they are proposing a framework you should follow. I think Christine will be more sympathetic because of her legislative and council experience. But, she knows all the tricks on how to hide things from council. I’m not sure who else will announce. Beck and Huether still seem to be hold outs, at this point, and many others have said they will likely NOT run. Former DTSF director, Joe Batcheller will also likely announce soon.

*I assisted Erickson in the past on FREE youth public transit initiative and school start date initiative.

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