Republican who oversees South Dakota's elections endorses a Democrat in the race to succeed her

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s Republican secretary of state is breaking with her party and endorsing the Democrat running for the office, saying “the integrity, stability, and professionalism of this office is at stake.”

Secretary of State Monae Johnson lost the nomination at the state GOP convention in June to Heather Baxter, a state lawmaker whose campaign website says she aligns with President Donald Trump and his concerns about "inaccurate voter rolls, mail in ballots, and voting machine issues.” A previous statement on Baxter's website said she supported getting rid of voting machines in favor of hand-counting ballots, which has been a theme among those pushing conspiracy theories that voting and ballot counting machines can be rigged.

Johnson said she endorsed Democratic candidate Terrence Davis because he brings law enforcement experience from his years as a state trooper, as well as an educational background in law and policy. The secretary of state’s office on Monday said Johnson would not comment beyond her statement, which was published over the weekend.

“I am a Republican. Terrence is a Democrat. I understand that this decision will disappoint some people in my party and anger others,” Johnson wrote in a column published in South Dakota War College, a conservative politics blog.

It’s not clear what impact the endorsement will have in South Dakota, where no Democrat has held statewide office since 2015. The state has voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the past three presidential elections.

Baxter downplayed Johnson's endorsement of her opponent.

“It’s not surprising that she’d rather back someone who won’t change what she has done,” she said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Baxter sponsored a bill to prohibit the use of automatic tabulating systems, though the legislation ultimately failed.

A previous version of her website stated that she “advocates for hand-counted paper ballots, no more voting machines.” On Monday, Baxter said she altered the wording because she does not have the power to change the way ballots are tallied and she trusts auditors ”to do what’s best for their counties.”

Hand-counting ballots has been shown to take far longer and is more prone to error than using tabulator machines.

Baxter, who won election to the Legislature two years ago, said Trump’s agenda on voting and elections is generally a “reinforcement of current election laws.”

Since taking office for his second term, Trump has attempted to federalize election operations, even though the Constitution gives states and in some cases Congress that authority. He has tried to put the Postal Service at the center of deciding which voters can receive a mail ballot, attempted to impose a proof-of-citizenship requirement for registering to vote in this year's midterms and pushed a narrative that noncitizens are marring U.S. elections.

Six years after he lost his bid for reelection to Biden, Trump continues to spread false claims of widespread voting fraud.

South Dakota is the latest state where Republican candidates who align with Trump's views on voting and elections have been on the ballot this year for statewide office, in some cases winning their primaries.

Johnson's endorsement of a Democrat to succeed her in the office that oversees elections is a bit of a turnaround. When she campaigned for the position in 2022, she refused to say whether Democrat Joe Biden had won the 2020 election and focused on “election integrity,” a phrase often used by conspiracy theorists who refuse to acknowledge the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

Last year, Johnson apologized for accidentally releasing information that revealed whether those on the state's voter rolls were seeking government assistance such as food aid.

Jim Eschenbaum, chair of the South Dakota Republican Party, said GOP delegates soured on Johnson after she failed to appear before a legislative committee to answer questions about a contract her office had awarded to an electronic poll book company. She eventually was issued a subpoena.

“An involved citizenry just won’t stand for that from their elected officials, period,” he said in a text to The Associated Press.

For his part, Davis emphasized that the secretary of state's office is nonpartisan and that its mission is to serve all residents “honestly and fairly.”