Are Black Hills voters being shortchanged?

Two vacancies and a punishment mean Rapid City will be represented with three fewer voices than usual during portions of South Dakota's annual lawmaking session

The Black Hills is undermanned as South Dakota’s 99th Legislative Session kicks off in Pierre. And beyond being down two lawmakers due to a pair of vacancies that’ll remain unfilled as legislators gavel in for the first time today, a Rapid City senator also remains stripped of her committee assignments.

And while that’s, in part, a product of problematic actions by the trio of women who represented Districts 30, 34 and 35 last year, it means voters in South Dakota’s most western region will have three fewer voices speaking for them during portions of the annual lawmaking process than their counterparts elsewhere in the state.

“All of these issues are West River,” said Tonchi Weaver, a political activist and resident of District 34, one of two Black Hills legislative districts that had legislators resign in 2023 amid public scrutiny into financial conflicts involving state lawmakers. “Maybe we could have Wyoming annex us so we could get some representation.”

Weaver was among a group of Pennington County Republicans who last month called for Gov. Kristi Noem to move swiftly in filling vacancies created by former Sen. Jessica Castleberry and former Rep. Jess Olson, both of whom had accepted state funds while serving in the Legislature. And they’re not alone in their hopes of convincing the governor she should not wait to fill those empty seats, despite Noem’s preferring to make appointments after getting further clarity from the courts about what types of financial interactions between lawmakers and the state rise to constitutional violations.

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