A couple days ago Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth announced that he is considering a run against Representative Kristi Noem for South Dakota's lone Congressional Seat. This announcement came on Monday and was aired on KOTA 1380am. More information came on Tuesday in a Johnathan Ellis article in the Argus Leader. From the Ellis article we learn that Barth has not announced official candidacy, but has started the process for a possible run. This includes talking to Democratic party members in Washington D.C. and in South Dakota. Ben Nesselhuf, South Dakota Democratic Party Chairman, said that he is not discouraging anyone from looking at the possibility of running against Representative Noem.
Barth stated in the Argus article was that he would pull his name out of contention if former Rep. Herseth-Sandlin decides to run. Herseth-Sandlin at a speech at South Dakota State University this week did not rule out a possible run in 2012. The idea of Herseth-Sandlin running for her old seat would make an interesting rematch in 2012.
Now if Herseth-Sandlin decides to run in 2012 it is highly possible that she will not have a primary for the nomination, unless there is a fringe candidate. The logic behind this argument is that in 2010 when Rapid City Doctor Kevin Weiland did not primary Herseth-Sandlin after Weiland said he would after her vote on current Health Care Law. He received 3834 petition signatures to put his name on the ballot, but then decided not to run against Herseth-Sandlin. That move shows that Weiland would probably not primary Herseth-Sandlin in 2012 if she runs. With Barth saying that he will not primary Herseth-Sandlin, if she runs again, shows that if Herseth-Sandlin really wanted to challenge Rep. Noem it would be possible.
Now if Herseth-Sandlin decides not to run, the landscape in the South Dakota Democratic Congressional primary could be rather interesting. Now we know that Jeff Barth is hypothetically running for the Democratic nomination to challenge Rep. Noem, but will someone primary Barth? Will the Weiland Wildcats comeback again to convince Dr. Weiland to run for the congressional seat again? Could we see an East vs. West primary with Barth vs. Weiland for the Democratic nomination? It will take more time, but one thing we do know is that Noem will not be running unopposed 2012. More to come with this story.
