-
South Dakota U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson speaks to a crowd of supporters in Sioux Falls after winning re-election in 2022. Johnson has served as the South Dakota representative since 2018 and is a potential 2026 gubernatorial candidate. (PHOTO: ARGUS LEADER)
This is the last in a four-part series by South Dakota News Watch about the political journey and Republican Party challenges faced by U.S. Representative Dusty Johnson: Dusty Johnson, newly elected to the U.S. House, sat with his sons on the House floor on Jan. 3, 2019, as longtime Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi was voted Speaker of the House.
The Democrats had picked up 41 seats, their biggest gain since the post-Watergate election of 1974. That meant Johnson and North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong, atlarge members from rubyred states who were not averse to working across the aisle, would face hard choices as Democrats accelerated oversight of the Trump administration.
A penchant for pragmatic politics helped connect Armstrong and Johnson as time went on, but so did their differences.
“I always say that the reason Dusty and I hang out is because I’ve sworn more in one sentence than he has in his entire life,” said Armstrong, a criminal attorney and North Dakota state senator before running for Congress.
“But there aren’t a ton of people in D.C. that get both policy and politics, and Dusty is one of them. Not just South Dakota politics but Washington politics, the pressure points, why things are the way they are. You can be the biggest policy wonk in the world, but if you don't understand that part of it, you won’t get anything done.”
Friction arrived less than two months into Johnson’s first term. He was one of 13 Republicans who voted to block Trump’s national emergency declaration for the Southern border, citing constitutional concerns over executive expenditures without legislative approval.
Democrats and moderate Republicans saw Johnson’s vote – later negated by Trump’s veto – as a principled stand against an overzealous president obsessed with building “the wall” while stoking hysteria about illegal immigration and ignoring the separation of powers.
Trump’s supporters, of which there are many in South Dakota, saw it differently. Johnson’s office received thousands of calls characterizing the representative as a RINO (Republican in Name Only), a turncoat or worse.
“We absolutely have to secure the border, and I'm fully committed to a physical barrier being a part of the solution,” Johnson told News Watch. “But my oath of office is to the Constitution, which says that it’s Congress that has the power of the purse. I get that we’re in an era where bumper-sticker slogans seem to win arguments, but I'm going to back the Constitution even when it gets me in trouble.”
The 2020 election and its aftermath, with cries of election fraud and the grievance-fueled assault on the Capitol, confirmed the fears of political conventionalists that democratic institutions were imperiled.
While some Republicans, including Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, called out Trump’s election lies as damaging to the country, Johnson’s public comments steered more toward a lack of respect for constitutional norms.
He voted to certify the election in the early morning hours of Jan. 7, pointing out that Congress’ role in the counting of electoral votes from the states is an administrative and largely ceremonial act.
“Congress is not given a super veto over the decision of the states with regard to elections,” said Johnson. “Everybody who voted that day understood that for Republicans, there was a popular vote and there was a principled vote, and you had to make a decision about what kind of politician you were going to be.”
A week later, Johnson voted against impeaching Trump for “incitement of insurrection,” reasoning that Trump was leaving office anyway and the process would further divide the country. He also referenced the previous year’s racially charged police brutality protests, some of which turned violent.
Johnson’s desire to move on was understandable.
He saw efforts to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power and violence on city streets as signs of an eroding civic landscape. From his view, though, there was little evidence of amelioration after Biden took over.
“I think the conflict of the 2020 election could have been an opportunity for some soul-searching for America,” Johnson told News Watch. “It was a chance for us to figure out how to come together, how to focus on an agenda that was more centered around shared American values. That clearly hasn't happened. I mean, I've got a number of disappointments about President Biden, but one of the biggest is that he has not tried to govern as a uniter. I don't think even his staunchest defenders could claim that the Inflation Reduction Act and the American Rescue Plan were attempts to find common ground. They were thoroughly partisan exercises. Of course, I don't want to lay all the blame for continuing partisanship at the feet of the president. There are lots of knuckleheads in both parties, and I’m frustrated with all of them.”
Johnson’s criticism of Biden was not enough to quell concerns in South Dakota, where reactionary Republicans trumpeting themes of election fraud gained influence.
The upsurge was evident at the party’s 2022 state convention in Watertown.
Monae Johnson, who publicly refused to acknowledgeBiden’svictory, was tabbed for secretary of state in a landslide over incumbent Steve Barnett, telling delegates that election integrity “is all on our hearts and minds.”
Taffy Howard, the state legislator, tried to seize the moment with her 2022 primary challenge. She noted that Dusty Johnson was among 35 House Republicans who voted in favor of an independent commission to investigate the Jan. 6 riot. He also opposed stripping Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, one of Trump’s most arduous GOP critics, of her House leadership position.
Dusty Johnson focused on rural economic issues and blasted Biden’s social spending. But vulnerabilities were exposed in a race pitting a well-known incumbent against “the least effective legislator in modern South Dakota history,” as Johnson characterized Howard.
“I'm never going to be scared of a primary,” Johnson said. “I mean, everybody gets a primary in this modern Republican party. Kristi Noem had a primary, John Thune had a primary. Anybody who thinks that by acting in a certain way they can gain a free pass doesn't understand modern politics. At some point, you just go do the right thing and figure out what that means politically later.”
That mentality steered Johnson and Armstrong to the Republican Main Street Caucus, one of five ideological House factions referred to in “The Godfather”-like parlance as the “five families.” The House Freedom Caucus is the smallest and yet the most well-known of these groups, manning the far-right flank.
Johnson serves as chair of the 75-member Main Street Caucus, touting a pragmatic approach to coalitionbuilding and fiscal policy rather than its previous identity as “moderate,” a loaded word in certain circles these days.
It’s an important distinction amid Republican infighting and partisan feuds, with the government shutdown just the latest example. According to a recent Fox News poll, overall approval of congressional job performance stands at 19%.
It could be enough to make the familiar confines of Pierre and the machinations of state government look appealing by contrast as the 2026 gubernatorial election draws nearer.
“Dusty’s not a guy who's a Washington animal,” said Schaff. “That doesn’t mean he’s not a serious legislator. In fact, I think he's more serious than probably 90% of Congress. But you also get a sense that he doesn't love it the way some people do, and he might be looking for a way out.”
— This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization located online at sdnewswatch.org.