Good evening District 27. It has been ten days since the general election and I am ready to put closure to this campaign. I have taken down all of my signs this past week, except one still hanging on the front side of my campaign headquarters. I even took down the sign made by my older brother who resides in a nursing home and suffers from a mental disability. He was the first person to support my campaign by creating this sign. He hung it on the door of his room before giving it to me in March. The sign hung on my front door and over the summer months it gradually faded from the sunlight. Therefore, his sign is an appropriate image that captures a hard-fought state senate race that will quickly fade into the sunset. However, I thought I would address my followers and supporters one last time before I bring closure to my campaign now that I have had plenty of time to think about what I want to say.
Thank You and Gratitude
First, I want to thank God for allowing me the opportunity to run for political office. This was something that was never on my radar screen. As many of you know, the Lord placed it on my heart to run for office. One day during adoration in June 2023, the Lord said to me, “I need you to do this.” I replied, “You have the wrong guy. I am not a politician.” The Lord replied, “If not you, then who?” I then said, “I will do it, but you have to lead me as I don’t know anything about running for office.” From that day forward, the Lord led me throughout my campaign, revealing signs all along the way. I cannot thank Him enough for granting me the time and the resources to pursue this opportunity to serve Him in this manner. It is never easy to go “all in” and come out on the other side without a victory. (I will speak more about this later.)
Secondly, I want to thank the voters of District 27 who cast their vote for me. This was a job interview and I am proud that almost half of the voters of this district considered me for the job of state senator. Apparently, a simple majority agreed with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State that it’s okay that my opponent maintains two active voter registrations in two states. At the end of the day, I did my best and have few regrets regarding my campaign performance. I am honored to have earned 3,518 votes from people across this vast district.
Thirdly, I want to thank those who donated financially to this campaign. I especially want to thank my immediate and extended family members. They not only provided the seed money to jump-start my campaign but also offered many prayers on my behalf that I may have the strength and courage to persevere to the finish line. Thanks to my siblings, in-laws, and mom who supported me by coming out for my election watch party on June 4th and again on November 5th. You know who you are. I also want to thank the many widows, community members, and friends throughout District 27 who made significant contributions to my grassroots campaign. Your generous support meant so much to me as you gave not of your surplus, but from what you had to live on (cf. Luke 21:4).
Fourth, I want to thank those people who brought me food, coffee, tea, or other food items to snack on while I was sign-waving on the streets of Martin. Your generosity did not go unnoticed.
Fifth, I want to thank the Fanning family for the use of their flatbed trailer while I attended the many parades throughout the district. I am forever grateful for Paul and Mary Ann’s generosity and for all they did for my campaign. They saw the potential in me and were one of the first local supporters to help jump-start my campaign. I also want to thank the volunteers who helped me throughout the summer months in the various parades I attended. You know who you are.
Sixth, I want to thank all my followers on Facebook and those who have followed me on my website. Without mentioning any names, I want to thank those who read my blog posts and forwarded them to family and friends who would not have known me otherwise. I thought it was important to paint a portrait of Who is the candidate? What is his background and where does he come from? What are his values and how were they shaped? What does he stand for? And Why should I vote for him? At a minimum, I owed it to the voters to introduce myself and to afford you the opportunity to learn more about the candidate. I believe I did an exceptional job providing you with a good character sketch that allowed you to make an informed decision when going to the polling center.
Seventh, I want to thank those people who said “Yes” for hosting one of my campaign signs on your property. I received so many comments from people who said they saw one of my campaign signs from various locations throughout the district. It was my objective to have you see my campaign sign a minimum of seven times before it became ingrained into your mind. I believe I was successful in completing this task, albeit, I am still recovering from the sciatic nerve injury from all the post-pounding that I did over seven weeks ago. The pain is gradually subsiding. It was a small price to pay to earn your vote.
Eighth, I want to thank all the local teenagers at the Bennett County junior high and high school who kept an eye on my signs throughout my campaign. I have taught many of these students as a substitute teacher. At first, I thought perhaps the signs in front of my campaign headquarters would disappear, but these students kept an eye on them throughout my campaign and no one bothered them. I want to commend all of these students who came up to me throughout my campaign to wish me well. I challenged them to keep an eye on my signs and they came through for me.
Finally, I want to thank all of the people I spoke to throughout the campaign who gave me words of encouragement and sound advice. I could not have done this on my own without your love and support. For over twenty years, I have called the City of Martin my home. I have grown to love this community because of the many people I have met. Many of you are like family members to me. I can never thank you enough for all that you have done and it showed in the results of the election.
General Election Thoughts
As many of you know, I came close to winning the election. I came within striking distance; however, it was not meant to be – at least not this time. I actually exceeded my projected goal of winning 3,401 votes; however, this projection was based on historical voter turnout data from the general elections of 2018, 2020, and 2022. It was around 4:15 AM on Wednesday when I learned I could not make up the deficit in the number of votes that were cast for my opponent in Oglala-Lakota County. I needed to make up over 600 votes and there was no way I would get that many from Pennington County – the last county to add to my bucket of votes (around 4:30 AM). I knew there were still ballots that needed to be counted from Wall and New Underwood, which would come in my favor to close the gap, but by the time they came in, I told my sister who was sleeping in the recliner right next to me, “She won.” I garnered 3,518 votes and won three out of the four counties within District 27 compared to my opponent who received in the early hours of the morning 3,807 votes but only carried one county. Throughout my campaign, I was steadily building a coalition of voters across all political divides, but at the end of the night, I came up short. I lost by 289 votes. It was a big disappointment after having put in all the hard work since making my official announcement on October 4, 2023. I asked myself, “LORD, how could you do this to me? I thought you had my back…Why?” I will speak to this later, but for now, I think it’s important to drill down into the numbers to see what happened and draw some inferences as to how it happened. Reference General Election data below:
Based on the presented voter data, one will see that there were 7,639 ballots cast in District 27. You will also see (highlighted in cyan blue) as one proceeds down ballot that the number of votes cast for the US Presidential Race (7,505), the South Dakota US Congressional Race (7,378), and the District 27 State Senate Race (7,325) steadily declined. This is to be expected as the further down ballot one goes, the voter is typically less engaged in the voting process and is likely to not know the candidate due to lack of name recognition. The voter lacks interest in voting in that particular race or does not prefer either of the candidates based on what they stand for. This is clearly evident in the number of under votes for the three races I have shown. (NOTE: An under vote is when a voter chooses not to vote for either candidate in a specific race. An over vote is when a voter has selected both candidates in a given race when they are only allowed to choose one.)
The US Presidential Race had 102 under votes where no one voted for any of the presidential candidates on the ballot. Voters in Oglala-Lakota County clearly were not interested in voting in the Presidential race with 43 abstaining from voting for the US President. The next race is the US Congressional Race and we again see more voters clearly sending a message that they did not like either candidate. Since write-in votes are not allowed in South Dakota, 258 people chose to not cast a vote in this race. Then in my state senate race, 306 ballots did not have a mark by either my opponent or myself, further planting the seeds of doubt as to what happened in the District 27 state senate race.
Now, let’s take a deeper dive into the numbers and make some inferences based on the above data. Pay attention to the yellow highlighted cells of the spreadsheet. You will see that Trump and I received, more or less, a similar number of votes cast in Oglala-Lakota County (406 – Trump and 348 – Kathol, respectively); however, when one looks at the number of votes cast for Dusty Johnson’s US Congressional race, the number of votes increased dramatically to 720. This is 314 votes over Donald Trump and 372 votes over myself. This is a red flag in my view and needs to be properly put into context. First, there were 89 votes cast for third-party candidates even though RFK suspended his campaign and backed Donald Trump. But that still leaves 225 votes not in Donald Trump’s column. Where did they go? You will see in olive green that there were 43 under votes that were not cast for any presidential nominee in Oglala-Lakota County. These voters are more than likely establishment Republicans who are “Never Trumpers” or people who are Independents or No Party Affiliates who chose not to vote in the US Presidential race. However, some of these “Never Trumpers” also ended up voting for Kamala Harris for US President. Secondly, why are Dusty Johnson’s votes in Oglala-Lakota County higher than Trump’s or myself? What is happening here? Was Sheryl Johnson that bad of a candidate that she lost some of the Native votes in Oglala-Lakota County? After all, I did meet her on Saturday, August 3, 2024, attending the Oglala Lakota Nation parade, unlike her opponent who was nowhere to be found canvassing voters in the parade, nor did I hear Dusty campaign on the reservation to canvas voters. So what is possibly going on here in this county? I would like to understand this myself.
Based on an initial conversation that I had with a tribal leader from Medicine Root District on the day before the election, “Republicans cannot be trusted.” Therefore, one must have a “D” behind their name to win the Native vote. This is identity politics at its finest and I will explain more in detail later, but Dusty is not a Democrat and he earned more than Trump or me. You will also see (highlighted in olive green) that Dusty’s US Congressional race had a higher under vote from Oglala Lakota County (97) than either Trump’s US Presidential race (43) or my District 27 state senate race (61). How is this possible? One can only speculate that there were establishment Republicans and Never-Trump supporters who backed Dusty Johnson and did not care to vote for Sheryl Johnson. Based on the final voter registration rolls, there are 587 Republicans and 2,198 registered Independents + No Party Affiliates in Oglala-Lakota County. This means that some of these party members either sat out this race based on the high under vote and did not want to cast a vote for either candidate or voted for the establishment candidate but not Trump. The data further helps explain what happened in my state senate race. This becomes more apparent upon inspecting the District 27 under vote count in Pennington County. The highlighted peach color shows that 159 people in Pennington County chose to sit out and not cast a vote for either candidate in the District 27 State Senate race. That is a significant number of lost votes for either candidate.
Based on the data, the conservative wing of the party chose to sit out and not vote in my down-ballot race, or the establishment GOP members chose to vote for my Democratic opponent. This is not only based on circumstantial evidence from the data but also is based on evidence found on Facebook. Let me explain.
You will see that my opponent received a higher number of votes cast for her than US Presidential Candidate Kamala Harris and US Democratic Congressional Candidate Sheryl Johnson. As I stated previously, historically candidates down-ballot typically do not receive nearly the same number of ballots cast in their race as their counterparts above them because of a lack of name recognition or disinterest in the down-ballot races by the voter. This is not the case and is an anomaly that I would like to explore in further detail. Upon further inspection, my opponent outperformed both Harris and Johnson by 150 votes and 404 votes, respectively. How is this possible you may ask? I propose the following inferences.
1. See the Facebook post below by my primary opponent who lost the June 4th District 27 Republican Primary to yours truly. He posted this on Election Day and chose to endorse the more “conservative” candidate in the race.
My primary challenger then goes one step further and posts this comment on Facebook about me regarding my position on Referred Law 21, which is a blatant fabrication and lie. See the posted screenshot.
As an engineer officer for the US Public Health Service, I was assigned to work for the Indian Health Service (IHS) for 21 years. I was stationed at the Martin Field Office for eight years from 2004 to 2012. Under my leadership, the Martin Field Office staff served the residence of Bruce Whalen under IHS Project AB-03-R15 by extending a community water service line connection from a new water main that was installed parallel to SD Highway 407 South toward the Nebraska-South Dakota border. Apparently, my primary opponent fails to remember the free government giveaways he received between November 30, 2006, and June 19, 2007. Moreover, he is confused that my office constructed water transmission lines, unlike the carbon pipelines that were being proposed by Summitt Carbon Solutions, Inc. See drawing details below:
Moreover, my primary opponent failed to see the posted sign on my campaign headquarters in Martin that I was adamantly not in favor of Referred Law 21 (formerly known as SB 201). I staunchly was against it by signing my name on the petition at the April 17, 2024, Pennington County Republican Party’s Legislative Forum, which he attended and knew my position when asked the question regarding eminent domain for private gain. Finally, I spent all of May collecting and gathering the necessary signatures to put RL 21 on the ballot because I was asked by a petitioner at the Legislative Forum if I could help out and I gladly accepted the challenge. I also was part of the No on RL 21 team for many months, unlike both my primary or general election opponents who weren’t on any of the conference calls. Anyone who doubted my position on RL 21 can read about it here: https://www.anthonykathol.com/post/vote-no-on-referred-law-21.
Sadly, my primary opponent must not have paid too much attention during the 1980s when Ronald Reagan was POTUS. He fails to abide by Reagan’s Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican. My primary opponent and his “conservative” followers decided to undermine the progress I was making in my general election opponent’s voting bloc. Therefore, my primary challenger decided to endorse my opponent who belongs to the party of infanticide and gender dysphoria and wants to allow men to play in women’s sports. He also forgot that my opponent tried to make it a Class 6 felony in her hate crime bill that she introduced in the state senate by jailing anyone who used improper pronouns. This was a cornerstone piece of her legislation that she introduced in the South Dakota 96th Legislative Session in 2021. For all of you supporters of my primary challenger, you can review my general election opponent’s voting record here: https://www.anthonykathol.com/prime-sponsorship-of-state-senate-bills to learn firsthand that she wanted to lock you up for two years and pay a $4000 fine for using improper pronouns around gender confused employees. Finally, the voters of this district never heard how the incumbent state senator planned to vote on Amendments E and G, or Iniatated Measures 28 or 29. She skipped the legislative forum in Mission, which was broadcast live on KILI Radio. The moderator asked each of the candidates to state their position on the various ballot measures. She was nowhere to be found. We do know she advocated for voting no on Amendment H and RL21 per her Facebook page. However, we also know she voted no on referring Amendment F on the ballot for voters to decide whether the state can impose work requirements on individuals eligible for Expanded Medicaid Benefits. See the link of her vote on SJR 501:https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Vote/78869.
Because my primary opponent went “Liz Cheney” on me, I was not able to shore up my base and therefore, I could not win this election no matter how hard I tried. It was like taking one step forward and two steps back. I could not pull out a victory when the Republican Party chose to sit on the sidelines or vote for my opponent in lieu of the real conservative candidate who was ranked by the South Dakota Family Voice consortium as the preferred candidate. You can see my opponent’s ranking here: https://dakotavoter.com/2024-district-27/.
The question remains how much of an influence did this endorsement have on the overall vote? One can only guess. After all, I had three tribal leaders endorse my candidacy and it did help bring a coalition of Native voters into my camp, but to what degree is not clear. Personally, I am not a huge fan of endorsements because some people may not like the person who endorses you. I prefer to let my work speak for itself and clearly, I worked circles around my opponent, but in the end, all the work I put into this campaign did not pan out. Meanwhile, my opponent was on the run and she put out a last-minute pitch for additional campaign funds as she knew she had a formidable challenger who was making inroads into her voting bloc. As I mentioned in a previous post, she cannot rely on her tribal members to support her because the voting bloc she mainly represents doesn’t know her or does not have the financial means to donate to her campaign. This is how out of touch she is. Hence, she raises the majority of her campaign funds from her political actions committees (PACs) from East River. Once that money dried up, she became desperate for additional cash to fund more of her campaign events through her ActBlue.com account (see below Facebook posting). Interestingly enough, she went ahead and paid off her campaign loan first by using the money from East River PACs and then she applied the remaining balance towards her campaign events. Talk about running a campaign where the interests of the donors and the voters are put last and your interests are put first. We will see how much money she raised from her grassroots supporters when she has to file her 2024 Year-end Campaign Finance Disclosure Report.
2. The South Dakota GOP continued to undermine my campaign by not supporting me. There were only six state senate candidates who received any financial assistance from the South Dakota Republican leadership. Click on the link here: https://sdcfr.sdsos.gov/Document.aspx?DocumentID=5965&type=img. I was not one of them identified on the list because in the words of the GOP State Party Chair, “The party has limited resources and has to use them where ultimate success seems most likely” (John Wiik email dated April 4, 2024). In other words, the State GOP wrote off my campaign before it even got off the ground. This is the reality of politics in South Dakota and made me realize for the first time how dirty politics really is. After spending hours reviewing the nominating petitions of District 27 Democratic opponents to validate the number of verifiable signatures, the State GOP stabbed me in the back after confirming that the Democratic nominees had an acceptable number of signatures on their nominating petitions. This is the thanks that a party loyalist gets when doing a good deed for the party. Moreover, it showed that the South Dakota State GOP wrote off 4,296 registered Republican voters in District 27. It is no wonder why few people get into politics when it becomes this corrupt.
Upon winning my first-ever primary victory, I had several legislative candidates reach out to me and congratulate me on my primary election win against a formidable primary opponent. They all said, “If there is anything that I can do to help with your campaign, please let me know.” This was all platitudes, but not one came to my assistance. Some offered words of encouragement, but that was the extent. When I asked for poll watchers, the party couldn’t deliver. Because the Republican establishment wrote off this district, they were happy to secede poll watching duties to NARF. Thankfully, the Department of Justice (DOJ) came in at the last minute to serve as unbiased poll "observers" to watch the elections run in Oglala-Lakota, Bennett, and Jackson Counties. You can read the letter from the SD Secretary of State to the Department of Justice here: https://sdsos.gov/about-the-office/assets/Press%20Releases/DOJLetter2024.pdf. However, based on a recent conversation on November 14, 2024, with a precinct captain from Oglala-Lakota County, he informed me that the DOJ observers were consumed with Native voters not having direct access to a Lakota language interpreter. Furthermore, they were questioning the voters upon walking out of the voting center if it would have been beneficial had the ballot been written in Lakota as a secondary language, to enhance the voting experience of the Oglala Sioux Tribal members who were not well-versed in the English language. In other words, the DOJ observers were there to observe if any Native voters were being suppressed from exercising their right to vote due to language barriers.
3. The National Rifle Association (NRA) also influenced the results of my state senate race. On October 23, 2024, I was volunteering to check in people for the Feeding South Dakota program here in Martin. One of the people that I checked in that morning mentioned she had received a postcard from the NRA and that the NRA was endorsing my opponent. She was confused by it. Needless to say, the NRA was also endorsing an out-of-state candidate with an active voter registration in Colorado. Shortly thereafter, I contacted one of our local law enforcement personnel to see if he had received a postcard. He did not but said he would be on the lookout if he saw one and would let me know. Then on Sunday, November 10th, five days after the election, one of my campaign supporters, who attends my parish community at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church, confirmed that her sons received the postcard. She ended up throwing them away.
To date, I have not seen the postcard, but there is no question that the NRA influenced the voters of this district, probably more so in Pennington County since there is a red voting bloc in that county and there were many who chose not to vote for either candidate.
I went to great lengths back in March when I was contacted by the NRA about whether or not to complete the 2024 NRA-PVF South Dakota Candidate Questionnaire. The questionnaire was filled with numerous questions and the NRA held a gun to my head, figuratively, and threatened me if I did not send it back. If I chose not to complete the questionnaire, the NRA said in their letter that either I provide them with the information or a non-response would be considered a sign of hostility toward the Second Amendment. So I was "damned if I do and damned if I don’t" when responding to their questionnaire.
After consultation with my campaign manager, many local Second Amendment supporters, local law enforcement, my local pastor, family members, and my mom, I chose to complete the questionnaire with some hesitation knowing full well that a person who doesn’t even know me would twist and misinterpret what I had written. You can read more about my Second Amendment position here: https://www.anthonykathol.com/post/right-to-defend-yourself
At the end of the day, I regret having provided too much information on the questionnaire which resulted in a C ranking, and my opponent was given an A ranking strictly based on her voting record. Hence, the NRA endorsed my opponent over me and used the information that I provided in the questionnaire against me. Moreover, I am convinced that this rating also caused me to lose financial support for my state senate bid from the South Dakota Freedom Caucus because the Political Action Committee initially supported my campaign leading up to the June 4th primary election, but later withheld their donation in the general election. At the end of the day, I cannot prove how influential the NRA’s literature campaign drop was, but I am certain this affected the high number of under votes in District 27 within Pennington County (reference under vote count highlighted in peach color). My campaign manager in the primary forewarned me of this and true to form, I think it played a critical role in me losing this election.
4. Identity politics did play a role in my senate race no doubt about it. At the end of the day, I could barely scratch the surface of winning over Native voters, though I had worked at a federal agency for 21 years serving Native Americans with water and sewer infrastructure. As I mentioned previously when I spoke to a tribal leader from Kyle on the Monday before the general election, we had a cordial conversation and he thought I was a nice guy. I answered all of his questions, but he told me that he could not vote for a Republican because “they cannot be trusted.” He said that if I was elected, I would fall in lockstep with the party bosses and would not stand up for the people of this district. I then challenged him to give me one piece of legislation that my opponent had supported that benefited the tribe. He could not think of one. I told him that in the 99th South Dakota Legislative Session my opponent did not introduce one piece of legislation that had made it out of a Senate Committee. See the link here: https://www.anthonykathol.com/prime-sponsorship-of-state-senate-bills. I then told him under my leadership, the Indian Health Service Martin Field Office from 2004 to 2012 installed water and sewer infrastructure for almost 600 families during my eight-year tenure. I also reminded him that I was the lead on the multi-million dollar Pine Ridge Advanced Integrated Wastewater Treatment and Wetlands Facility. I reminded him that I performed the engineering design and managed and performed the construction contract administration duties to completion. I then tried to persuade him by telling him that I could be the candidate who bridged the gap by promoting dialogue between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and state elected officials since the lines of communication had come to a standstill between tribal leaders and the Governor’s Office. However, all the rhetoric did not faze him because he was caught up in identity politics.
I then proceeded to share with him a video of my opponent’s latest Colorado voter registration which she, to date, has not denied. The tribal leader perplexed, scratched his head, and said, “Huh.” He couldn’t believe what he had heard but I believe his mind was already made up. He did not want to vote for a Caucasian man with an “R” behind his name. This was confirmed as I met people across the district when attending parades. People asked me what party I was running under and I told them I was a registered Republican. They then said, “That’s too bad. I can’t vote for you.” I will admit that some people did ask me my party affiliation and they said, “I am not a Republican, but I vote for the person.” So I know there were people out there who voted for me who are registered Democrats. The question remains as to how many voted for me. I estimate that for every vote I received from a Democrat, I probably lost 1 ½ to 2 votes in the Republican column for not perfectly fitting in the mold of the ultra-conservative candidate that they wanted. District 27 is a tough district to win over voters who have extremely polarizing positions from one side of the district to the other. I couldn’t win either way and as a result, the final general election numbers speak to this.
Censorship and Double Standards
As many of my followers know, I kicked off my campaign through a press release to the four regional newspapers (Bennett County Booster, The Pioneer Review, The Lakota Times, and the Rapid City Journal). However, I was quickly advised to get on social media. I chose Facebook of all the platforms out there to engage the voters. My first campaign social media post was on January 12, 2024. I simply reminded voters to “bring your pets inside and make sure your livestock has plenty of hay and water and are sheltered from the cold wind.” I then said, “I look forward to meeting you throughout my campaign.” From that day forward, my blogging on Facebook took off and I steadily became comfortable with this new medium. Before this time, I had never been on social media because of all the censorship that I had heard throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Well, as the blogging began, it wasn’t long before Mark Zuckerberg and his Facebook proxies began to moderate my free speech. I could not figure out why I was not gaining any traction with my Facebook campaign page and I discovered inadvertently that one of my photos was classified as inappropriate content and was automatically flagged because it was a photo of a calf being branded with a hot iron. This photo violated the Facebook policy for posting a pic that was considered “animal cruelty” and I either had to remove the post or pay the consequences of the Facebook algorithm no longer recommending my campaign page. As a result of this one incident, I resigned to create my own campaign website where I could post content freely and not worry about being censored by the social media empire. I was successful in launching my new campaign website on July 11, 2024.
Currently, my campaign website comes in at number one when Googling my name. I worked hard to earn this spot over the summer months by posting relevant content that would drive traffic to my website. My blog became a staple for several voters and followers from out-of-state. Before the final weeks of the campaign, the website was picking up traffic after I purchased online digital advertising. People were able to flock to my website which acted as a one-stop-shop for anything you wanted to know about my campaign and what I stood for. Unfortunately, I regret not doing this earlier so that my campaign signs would have reflected my website address, but voters steadily found my website as the general election neared.
Not only was there censorship and personal attacks regarding my character and integrity on the Facebook social media platform but on the Indian reservation, some people began to deface or steal my campaign signs. See the photos below.
I knew I was over the target when the opposition began to destroy my signs. This form of censorship came also in the form of shutting me down when I tried to vocally canvas voters at various venues. On October 13th, I was asked by some parishioners from Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Kyle to join them in playing bingo at Oyate Ta Kola Ku Youth Center. So I obliged. I attended the fun event, but during the fifteen-minute intermission, I approached three women to pass out some of my campaign literature and to speak with them. I was immediately told that I could not campaign in the public facility. On October 24th, I began to sign-wave outside of Maȟpíya Lúta (formerly Red Cloud Indian School) near the US 18 Highway approach and waved to the parents who dropped off their teenage children at the school. The school staff immediately called the superintendent who called security on me and told me that I couldn’t sign-wave within a public right-of-way. I told the security officer, that I had a Constitutional right to stand there, and he agreed with me. This is just another example of how the opposition tried to censor me because I was making inroads into my opponent’s voting bloc.
Not only did the opposition try to shut my campaign down, but they also bullied and harassed the landowners who hosted my signs. I can attest to three landowners who were unwilling to host my sign during the general election or took down my sign once I left the premises because they didn’t want to feel the negative pushback for hosting one of my signs. After all, I was a Republican candidate running for a state office. It was agreed by all landowners that I would pick up my signs immediately after the election (win or lose), but when I gathered my signs after the November 5th General Election, I found two of my signs had been torn down early or completely missing. One of the landowners refused to call me back when I questioned them about where the missing sign was located.
Finally, if that wasn’t enough, I had the opposition turn me into the South Dakota Department of Transportation for having my signs in the highway right-of-way here in Martin. I barely had my campaign signs up for a week, when I received a phone call on Monday, May 6, 2024, when the local highway maintenance foreman informed me that two of my jumbo campaign signs were within 6' of US 18 and 10' of SD 73 120-foot wide state highway right-of-ways. I can only think of three people who would contact the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT). Interestingly, my campaign sign at Martin Livestock was placed in the same location two years prior during the Bennett County Sheriff race but was now considered in the state right-of-way. Nonetheless, I obliged and removed my signs outside the highway right-of-way and relocated them the same day I received the phone call. However, I found it hypocritical that the DOT refused to enforce the law for the Democrat members running for US President and South Dakota State House.
Throughout the fall campaign, there were signs littered within the DOT right-of-way in both Oglala-Lakota and Jackson Counties. I saw Harris-Walz signs littering the DOT right-of-way along US 18 north of Pine Ridge and by Loneman Junction. I also saw District 27 House Representative signs for the Meeks/Pourier campaign within DOT right-of-way along SD44 at the corner of SD 44 and BIA Route 2. I saw a lot of tribal election signs littering the DOT right-of-way as one approached Pine Ridge from the east. I also saw many tribal election signs in the US 18 right-of-way within the town of Batesland. Apparently, it was okay for the DOT to discipline my campaign but not the opposition because like all state agencies, they can't because of "jurisdictional issues" on the Indian Reservation. It just goes to show that the DOT will unjustifiably treat one class of people within the state differently from another. If the DOT refuses to enforce the laws, then there is no sense in having this provision within our state laws. If the department refuses to enforce the laws on the books, then perhaps it is time that future campaigns go on the offense and put their signs in the DOT right-of-way since the department lacks the will and enforcement authority to enforce state laws within the exterior boundaries of the Indian Reservation. It is very discouraging to lose a close election when I follow the rules set forth by the SD DOT, but the opposition gets to play by another whole set of rules that don't apply to them.
The DOT wrote me an email reply on November 12, 2024, stating the following:
Mr. Kathol,
Thank you for reaching out regarding your concerns about the removal of political signs. The Department of Transportation is committed to enforcing all regulations fairly and equally, and we take any concerns about selective enforcement seriously.
Our policy is to remove all signage—regardless of content or affiliation—that is placed within public rights-of-way. This policy is applied consistently, and any signs found in these locations are removed by our teams. Here is a link to a brochure related to improperly placed signs in the right of way that provides additional guidance on our removal practices https://dot.sd.gov/media/documents/Sign%20Placement%20Guidelines.pdf
The policing of signs in the ROW during political season is a never ending challenge for DOT staff. This particular location is rural and DOT staff aren’t able to continually patrol routes and are not making special trips to look for improperly placed signs. In talking with our staff, the signs being removed were being put back almost as fast, adding to the challenge of keeping the ROW clear of signs.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions or would like to discuss further.
Sincerely,
As one can see, the censorship was real and this was problematic as I began my campaign and it continued throughout the summer and fall months. My opponent on the other hand was untouchable. She hardly campaigned and barely put out any signs. Interesting fact: None of her signs were stolen or defaced. Finally, she and the other Democrats got away with having a voter forum at a designated Bennett County voting center in Allen on October 24th. The Department of Justice was contacted, but no charges were filed. Again, this is the double standard that one has to put up with when running for office in this district.
Finally, my opponent’s surrogates began to destroy my character and integrity by posting rude ads and comments, perpetuating lies about me, on my Facebook campaign page throughout the fall campaign. I removed their posts but did not block them since they continued to drive traffic toward my campaign page. After four weeks of putting up with this childish behavior, I finally had to pull the plug and block all of these surrogates from posting on my Facebook page. It was no longer worth it and what I found amazing is the utter hypocrisy. Shortly after I blocked them from posting on my Facebook page, one of them complained that I was violating their First Amendment right to freedom of speech on a social media page where posted content is allowed to be moderated. You just can’t make this stuff up. This is the type of insanity that I was dealing with throughout my campaign.
Victory
I may have not won my race for District 27 State Senate but I gave it my best. I have few regrets. After the election, I spent several days reflecting on “Why LORD did you allow this to happen? I thought you had my back.” It was another blow to my faith and trust in God. However, the Lord said to me one word: Humility. In the end, this campaign was never about me; it was about you – wanting to be your voice in the state senate. I thought I was asked to bring the Good News even to the snake pit in Pierre – to proclaim His Truth. But in the end, the Lord was simply using me as his instrument of peace, love, and kindness. I was merely asked to listen to voters who opened up to me and who shared their stories. It made me realize after talking to so many voters that my cross is not as heavy as others. I will never forget the day back in May when I was canvassing voters in Wall and I met an elderly woman who had lost four children. I asked her how she continued to persevere in her faith journey, and she said, “I just took one day at a time and trusted in the Lord that everything has a purpose in life.” I will never forget crying tears of sadness and hugging her. That is one of the many stories that I will forever cherish throughout this campaign. This was a victory.
On Halloween, I had come back from the vigil mass for All Saints Day and I decided to hand out trick-or-treats to the kids that stopped by my home. It was almost 8 o’clock when my doorbell rang. It was one of my former students whom I had substitute taught when he was in the sixth grade. I hadn’t seen him for over seven years and now he was eligible to vote. This young Oglala-Lakota Native said to me, “Mr. Kathol, I want to let you know that I voted for you and several of my friends voted for you, too. Don’t ever change, Mr. Kathol. We like you just as you are.” I didn’t know what to say. I was completely surprised by his comment. This was a victory.
Leading up to general election day, I had led many people to my campaign website to see how I was planning to vote on the various initiated measures, amendments, and referred law. Many voters I spoke to were skeptical, confused, and did not know how to vote. I was able to educate many voters by referring them to my campaign website. I was also able to engage them by having one-on-one conversations about the various ballot measures since I had blogged on each one of them. I also hosted campaign signs on Vote NO on G, It’s too Extreme! and Vote NO on Referred Law 21 SDNotForSale.com. These signs were strategically posted along First Avenue in front of my campaign headquarters and every day many people from the Bennett County area were able to see them. Once the election was all said and done, every single measure went down in defeat except Amendment F of which I promoted a YES vote on this ballot measure. I am glad that I could lend a hand in the defeat of these ballot measures that would destroy the culture and values of our state. This was a victory.
Early on the morning of November 6th, the day after the general election, I received a beautiful text message from my nephew after I had learned I did not win my race. He writes:
Hey Anthony! This is your nephew Garrett. Just wanted to reach out and say how proud I am of you and your hard work through this election process. Your hard work and dedication inspires me to be better myself! Trust God’s plan and keep your head held high! You’ve made us all very proud!
He also created this post on his Facebook page that same day:
In the days after the general election, I had many heartfelt conversations, text messages, and phone calls that were similar to my nephew’s comments. Many people were inspired by my campaign and if I could do it, then perhaps they could find the courage to be politically active as well. This was a victory.
On November 12th, as I went for my evening rosary walk at sunset, I heard once again, the Lord say to me as I was walking back from the airport, “Humility means letting go and accepting the election results.” I could not help but have my eyes well up in tears. Likewise, while attending mass over the weekend, the cantor sang the offertory hymn titled “The Cry of the Poor.” I got all choked up and tears came rushing down my cheeks throughout the remainder of the song. I couldn’t sing any longer. I sat there listening to the words as the cantor sang them. The Lord continued to speak to me, “Humility starts with hearing the cry of the poor. This race was never about you, but rather about you being my instrument for those who have no voice. Be their voice, Anthony.” This was a victory.
Future Plans and Closing Remarks
On the morning after the general election, I flipped my Daily Words to Live By calendar to November 6th. The message from Pope Saint John Paul the Great read as follows:
"The search for peace involves a sincere effort and determined will on everyone’s part to change his life, even if this is often difficult and obliges him to swim against the tide of accepted ideas and of certain traditions."
John Paul’s words could not have come at a better time for me. I had given it my all, and yet, despite the tight race results, my campaign ended in defeat. However, I know that this campaign made me a better person. It made me a better listener. It made me realize that my cross is not nearly as heavy as what others are carrying at the moment. It made me realize that it took great courage on my part to throw my name in a political arena and that the Lord was taking me to his cross. I quickly discovered how dirty politics can be. Much like how the Jewish people chanted, “Away with him, away with him, crucify him!" (John 19:15), I also learned that the party that prides itself on diversity, equity, and inclusion, is filled with vitriol hate, resentment, and toxicity and did not like what I stood for. I was never going to change their opinion no matter how respectful I was toward them when debating the issues. In the same breath, I met people with a contrite heart who were filled with love and compassion and were rooting for me whether publicly by hosting one of my campaign signs, honking their car horn when they drove by me while sign-waving on the street corner, or in the silence of the voting booth. People were engaged and inspired by my campaign because I was not a career politician. They experienced what I experienced as we went down this path together learning what it was like to be a rookie candidate. The fond memories that I have from this first political campaign will never be repeated. It’s like going to my high school prom. My junior prom was so much better than my senior prom because I didn’t know what to expect and there was much excitement in attending my first prom. That is how I compare this campaign.
The old adage is true: When one door closes another opens. This has been true throughout my life. The question remains, “Will I recognize the signs when the new door opens?” Hence, I must continue to discern where God is leading me. I do know this much: I am relieved that I can finally put this campaign behind me. For thirteen months, my life was on pilot mode and I had been so much looking forward to a new chapter in my life. I was hoping to be your voice in the halls of the State Capitol in Pierre and to be of service to all of the people within District 27. However, this desire will have to be pushed to the side…for now.
What are my future plans you ask? I plan to relax and enjoy my favorite month of the year: November. I will be celebrating my birthday with my family over a Thanksgiving meal and then I plan to get ready for the holidays before going on an extended vacation to a tropical island to relax some more. Likewise, starting in January, I will get back in the saddle and go through the re-admission process to complete my Master’s in Elementary Education. When entering the state senate race, I realized I couldn’t do justice to both so I chose to take a leave of absence from my graduate studies to focus all of my energy on my campaign. Now that the campaign is over, I plan to use my remaining Post 9/11 GI benefits to complete my education. I am 15 credits shy of graduation and hopefully, I will be able to complete the program by December 2025. I hope to be an elementary school teacher someday educating the future leaders of tomorrow. They will have a great teacher who will be able to share his life experiences and will hopefully inspire them to do extraordinary things. Stay tuned.
In the meantime, I will be watching the political scene from afar and see how the new state legislature is shaping up as they kick off the 100th Legislative Session in Pierre starting January 14, 2025. I had many people ask me, “Are you going to run again?” My response was “Perhaps…but only if the people desire it and if it’s God’s will.” I have learned to say, “Never say ‘never’.” Have a good weekend. God bless.
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