Secretary of State Monae Johnson loses allies ahead of reelection bid

Sec. Monae Johnson's second run comes with fractured Republican coalition

Sec. of State Monae Johnson. (Submitted)

Shock swept through the Ramkota Hotel Convention Center in June 2022, as outsider Monae Johnson did what felt unthinkable to many less than a year earlier — capturing the Republican convention’s nomination to be secretary of state in the November election.

Johnson — a Rapid City native and former clerk in the Secretary of State’s Office — unseated incumbent Steve Barnett, a seasoned Pierre politico with deep familial ties to the state’s political scene, riding a wave of election integrity activists who rallied around her campaign to bolster the security and legitimacy of South Dakota’s elections following the 2020 election. Barnett had frustrated that group with his efforts to establish online voter registration in the Rushmore State, which would put it in line with 42 other states. Barnett resigned a month ahead of schedule, earning Johnson an appointment to the office ahead of time in December 2023.

A projector screen displays the results of the 2022 Republican convention race for Sec. of State in Watertown. (Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

“People were ready for a change,” one delegate to that 2022 convention, speaking anonymously, said of her decision to oust Barnett.

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