BURKE, S.D. (AP) - State Senate Democratic leader Billie Sutton said Wednesday that he is running for governor in 2018 to help working families and fight corruption in South Dakota.
The 33-year-old investment consultant and former rodeo rider faces a challenging race in South Dakota, where Republicans control every statewide office and have supermajorities in both legislative chambers. Announcing his bid to more than 100 supporters at his family’s ranch near Burke, Sutton recounted his familiarity with difficult situations: He was paralyzed in a 2007 rodeo accident.
Sutton said he remembers the loss he felt after waking up in the hospital and learning he would never be able to participate in a rodeo again - and probably never walk either.
“I was faced with a choice: Take the easy way and give up, or live by the values I was raised with. Do it the cowboy way: Never give up and never quit,” Sutton said.
He said that South Dakota has significant strides to make on education and early childhood education, and he pledged to work to make sure that South Dakota residents have good paying jobs and a high quality of life.
If he becomes the first Democratic governor elected in South Dakota since 1974, Sutton said he could serve as a check on the Republican-controlled Legislature in Pierre.
Sutton said he would “change the culture of corruption” in government, referencing recent high-profile scandals that have resulted in deaths, including alleged theft and an attempted cover-up at a Platte-based educational cooperative and what authorities have called financial misconduct involving the EB-5 visa program.
“For too long the status quo has reigned in South Dakota and plagued our state Capitol,” Sutton said. “I’ve seen it there firsthand. We’ve fallen behind, and we can’t afford more of the same.”
Sutton has served in the state Senate since 2011, representing District 21 in south-central South Dakota, but term limits prevent him from running again.
Democratic Party Chairwoman Ann Tornberg said in a statement that Sutton has been a champion for working families while Republicans in Pierre have shown no interest in helping them get ahead.
But Sutton downplayed party affiliation at the event, saying that he’s a “South Dakotan first.”
“I’m not worried about party labels, and so that’s going to be our focus,” he said. “When you’re elected to a position like this, you represent everyone.”
U.S. Rep. Kristi Noem and Attorney General Marty Jackley are Republicans competing for the governor’s office in 2018. State GOP Chairman Dan Lederman said Sutton is a “hyper-partisan liberal Democrat” who doesn’t want South Dakota residents to know his true views.
“Billie Sutton’s positions on policy would be disastrous for South Dakota,” Lederman said.
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