The Progressive Midwesterner

Only two members of the South Dakota House of Representatives (one Republican, Kevin Jensen, and one Democrat, Doug Post) voted against South Dakota House Bill 1191 (HB1191) , legislation that, if enacted, would legalize industrial hemp, but not marijuana, in South Dakota. As of this writing (February 17, 2019), the legislation is currently pending before the South Dakota State Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee . Despite the overwhelming support for industrial hemp in South Dakota, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is a staunch opponent of HB1191 and claims, without facts or evidence, that legalizing industrial hemp in South Dakota would effectively legalize marijuana in South Dakota: (South Dakota Gov. Kristi) Noem reiterated her opposition to legalizing industrial hemp in 2019 during her weekly press conference, saying she has "very real concerns" about passing House Bill 1191 during this legislative session. "I believe if we move ahead with ind...

In a poll , conducted by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research for the campaign of South Dakota Democratic gubernatorial nominee Billie Sutton, Sutton, a state senator and rancher from Burke, is trailing Republican nominee Kristi Noem, the U.S. Representative from Castlewood, by only four points, with the poll's margin of error at 4.4%, meaning that the South Dakota gubernatorial election is within the statistical margin of error. The poll had Noem at 46% and Sutton at 42%. The poll did not appear to include Libertarian nominee Kurt Evans or the Constitution Party's nominee, which will be determined on August 14 . The Libertarian and Constitution nominees would likely pull more votes from Noem than Sutton, which would increase the odds of a Sutton victory. More importantly, an informed-ballot test showed that Sutton has a six point lead over Noem (48% Sutton-42% Noem) after the informed-ballot test. This information tells me that Billie Sutton has a path to victory in South Dakota . ...