South Dakota’s RINO governor Dennis Daugaard once again interjected himself into a primary to help defend other RINOs who have rendered the proper worship to him as “Supreme Being.” He even made some robocalls in the state to defend his minions; understandable, I suppose, since deities are supposed to provide at least some protection for their acolytes. Thankfully, some of his worshipers (including some of the worst RINOs), have now given their political lives in defense of their lord’s agenda.

Locally, it was good to see Mark DiSanto win a seat as Pennington County Commissioner. Mark is a great guy, having announced his run for the commission after Pennington County decided to slap another tax (wheel tax) on the people of our county…and then voted themselves a 20% salary increase. Mark also displayed good judgment in marrying Lynne DiSanto, one of the best, most conservative legislators we have in South Dakota (of course, he married her before she became a legislator, but it still showed retroactive good judgment).

Another of the races I was watching yesterday involved conservative legislator Lance Russell’s challenge to Bruce Rampelberg in District 30. Rampelberg isn’t a bad guy. In fact, he’s a very nice guy.  Unfortunately, he can always be counted on to let you down when you need him most to act like a conservative. He’s one that our RINO governor can always count on to worship at the foot of Mount Pierre. Russell has long proven himself to be a solid conservative, and it was good to see District 30’s Republican senate slot swing right.

District 33s House race was a mixed bag. David Johnson and Taffy Howard came out on top in a three-way race for the Republican nomination for those two seats. Taffy Howard is a good conservative; I’ve known her for a lot of years. Mike Buckingham, who was the third place loser, isn’t a bad guy, and didn’t have too bad of a record when he was in the legislature before some years ago. But like some others, he has been way too cozy with the liberal RINO establishment for my comfort. With his long-time tree business giving him lots of name recognition, Johnson was an unfortunate RINO win (I think I could have lived with Buckingham better than Johnson); he’s made it clear that he’ll risk great personal injury in his haste to rush to the foot of Mount Pierre to render obeisance to the Daugaard Deity.

Pastor Sean McPherson was a nice win for District 32 House yesterday. I was hoping to see conservative Craig Ericks get the other seat, but from what I am told, he didn’t door-knock nearly as hard as is required to lock in a victory. RINO Kristen Conzet instead secured another opportunity to sell out Republicans in the legislature.

East River, Drew Dennert and Dan Kaiser were nice wins in District 3. This isn’t the first rodeo for Kaiser, but Dennert’s win is nice to see for this young conservative. From everything I’ve seen, Drew is going places.

Of course, it was VERY refreshing to see my friend Stace Nelson pull out a very healthy win over establishment-choice Caleb Finck in District 19. I have nothing against the young Finck, but earlier this year it quickly became apparent that Finck was the corrupt RINO establishment’s pick. Nelson, who has served in the legislature before, can be relied on to not only champion the documented values of the Republican Party, but to go head to head and toe to toe with the corrupt and vicious establishment RINOs who infest (and unfortunately lead) our party in South Dakota. Conservatives–and by extension, the people of South Dakota–will again have a strong and reliable advocate in the legislature, thanks to Stace Nelson’s presence.

And of course, it was woooooooonderful to see my friend Phil Jensen pull out a handy 61%-39% rout over ultra-RINO Jacqueline Sly, the RINO to whom (after Dennis Daugaard) we most have to thank for the education establishment tax hike this past legislative session. The RINO establishment state-wide was no-holds-barred for Sly, with the education establishment joining the RINO establishment throwing money and everything else but the kitchen sink in support of Sly against the conservative Jensen.

The RINO brigade here in Rapid City pulled out all the stops, marching in lockstep in an effort to fend off conservatives. In addition to the large chunks of money RINO Daugaard was throwing around in Black Hills races, the local RINOs joined forces and launched a combined radio ad on KOTA during the Rush Limbaugh show (of all slots) which lauded every one of the RINOs running. Whether that was money well spent (during one of the most conservative radio slots of the day) or wasted is anyone’s guess. It wasn’t fooling me.

One final interesting note. Ted Cruz, who dropped out of the presidential race over a month ago, pulled 17% (including my vote) in South Dakota yesterday. Not bad at all for a guy who’s been out of the race for over a month. The only other two choices on the Republican primary ballot were RINOs, so there was really no other choice but Cruz for me to vote for. I was proud to cast my vote for Cruz yesterday, both as a statement of gratitude for Cruz’s dedication to Republican principles, as well as a rebuke to the fact that people voting in the Republican primary have once again chosen a RINO to lead the party one step closer to its sad and complete demise.

But here in the state of South Dakota, there were great Republican victories yesterday, and for them, I give God the thanks and the glory.

May He ever be merciful to us.

*** Bob Ellis *** Is a conservative author  and Life and Liberty News contributor

      Read more from Bob Ellis and other conservative authors at American Clarion