Former lawmaker edges community organizer in Sioux Falls City Council runoff election
Richard Thomason holds off upset bid from Jordan Deffenbaugh
A tight contest for Sioux Falls City Council between an establishment favorite and a political outsider was decided by a runoff election Tuesday that saw fewer than 800 votes separate the candidates.
On the winning end of the 5 percent margin was banker and former state legislator Richard Thomason, who received 52.5 percent of the vote and held off an upset bid by community organizer and activist Jordan Deffenbaugh.
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“I’m feeling super excited, elated, and so humble that the citizens of Sioux Falls chose me to represent them for the next four years,” the 32-year-old told The Dakota Scout. “It’s not something I take lightly.”
The first to enter the race for the city’s lone at-large contest of the election cycle last fall, Thomason enjoyed the support from Mayor Paul TenHaken, a handful of sitting city councilors, and high-powered business leaders. However, that backing and a campaign war chest three times the size of his opponent’s wasn’t enough to avoid a runoff election — and a narrow one at that.
In the runoff because neither he nor Deffenbaugh achieved a majority of the vote in the April 9 municipal election, Thomason’s victory to the four-year, at-large term on the Sioux Falls City Council was not without doubt.
As election results trickled in, Thomason found himself behind early in the evening’s tabulation and reporting process, before pulling ahead as more of the city’s 79 precinct totals were reported.
Thomason benefited from a bump in votes from the regular contest, picking up about 1,100 additional votes from his total three weeks ago.
While that’s more than half of the total votes a third candidate in the regular election received, Deffenbaugh, 35, made the contest close by securing almost 1,500 more votes Tuesday than the first time around.
“Regardless of what the results say, tonight was a win. We started conversations that our city desperately needed. I am humbled and grateful for all the support that the voters showed me,” Deffenbaugh said. “My campaign went toe-to-toe with the big money machine that dominates our local politics, and I believe I’ve shown people that they can do the same.”
Thomason will be sworn in along with Councilor-elects Miranda Basye, Jennifer Sigette, and Ryan Spellerberg on May 21.
It bothers me that you refer to mr. deffenbaugh as an “outsider.” He lives here. He works here. His roots are here. Why do you describe him as an outsider? You also used the word “upset”’ to describe his campaign. He proposed ideas to shift our direction. Did his ideas “upset” you or were you parroting the words of the “insiders?”’
The best government money can buy.