On debate night in South Dakota, Karen Marso parked her car and quickly scooted across a road in Rapid City to join a group of three dozen backers of gubernatorial candidate Jamie Smith.
The gaggle of Smith supporters was there to await the arrival of the Democratic nominee just before the Sept. 30, 2022, debate between Smith, Libertarian candidate Tracey Quint and incumbent Republican Gov. Kristi Noem.
The fact Marso was there to welcome Smith marked a major shift for the 68-year-old retiree and her husband, John, who were both lifelong Republicans until a few years ago, when Donald Trump was elected president.
The turmoil of the Trump presidency turned them away from GOP politics and politicians, including Gov. Noem, who has aligned herself closely with Trump and the national Republican Party, Karen Marso said.
But Marso’s support for the Democratic candidate had far more to do with Smith than with allegiance to one party or another, she said.
“I just think he’s really genuine, and he really cares,” she said. “I think you can tell just by looking in somebody’s eyes, and you can tell when someone is genuine or fake, and he’s for real.”
Marso said she doesn’t appreciate Noem’s actions to overturn the voterapproval legalization of adult-use marijuana in 2020, and her refusal to support a woman’s right to abortion in the case of rape or incest. “Plus, she’s an election denier and I’m tired of that,” Marso said.
Swing voters like Marso may hold the key to the 2022 gubernatorial election, which a recent South Dakota State University poll of registered voters indicated is closer than many thought, with Noem at 45% support and Smith at 41%, within the poll’s 4% margin of error.
The narrow poll results underscore what has suddenly become a closely watched campaign pitting a well-funded, well-known, hard-charging Republican incumbent with potential presidential aspirations against a relatively inexperienced Democrat who has little money and name recognition in a state dominated by Republican voters and elected officials.
In numerous political ads and mailers, the Noem campaign and the state Republican Party have painted Smith as too liberal or “too extreme for South Dakota.”
A recent mailer from the party said Smith pushed vaccine mandates, marched with Black Lives Matter “radicals,” supported open national borders and wanted to confiscate legally owned guns from South Dakotans.
But a leading Republican in the state Legislature, who knows Smith well, said the Democratic candidate for governor is not extreme in his views and is a lawmaker who works well with people of all backgrounds and political positions.
“I don’t find Jamie Smith extreme in anything … and I wouldn’t call him a liberal Democrat, I really wouldn’t,” said House Speaker Spencer Gosch, R-Glenham. “Just take a look at the talking points they are throwing out, because this is all they can find. If that’s all you can find against Jamie Smith, most of that stuff is a little weak. It’s personal and they’re not going after Smith on his record because there’s not that much they disagree with.” Gosch said he has found Smith to be a likable lawmaker who is a great listener and valued colleague, even though the two disagree on many political issues.
“I would tell you that between Jamie Smith and the governor, I’ve had a much more cordial relationship and conversations with Jamie than I ever have had with the governor, and she’s from my own party,” Gosch said. “Jamie Smith to me, I think he’s a great guy…as a person, I consider us really, really good friends because he’s just the kind of guy that everybody loves, he’s a guy who’s really hard not to love. When he talks to you he really listens and he really cares, and he remembers things.”
Smith, the minority leader in the South Dakota House, said he has traveled the state and felt enough support for his campaign and enough distaste for Noem’s positions and divisive politics that he sees a legitimate shot at an upset in the election on Nov. 8, 2022.
“I wouldn’t count me out at all, because people are looking for decency in government,” Smith said. “There could very well be a huge surprise when people wake up on Nov. 9.”
Smith, 51, was born and grew up in Sioux Falls, the son of educators. Smith attendedcollegeonamusic scholarship at Augustana University, majoring in communications.
After college graduation, his first job was as the voice and operator of Wilbur the Coyote, the animatronic animal that delivered pizzas and jokes to patrons of the Gigglebee’s family fun center in Sioux Falls.
He later returned to college, earned a teaching degree and taught middle school science in Sioux Falls. He also coached wrestling and football, including at Axtell Park Middle and Roosevelt High.
Smith and his wife, Kjerstin, have been married 23 years and have two sons, Johnathan and Isaac.
Smith later earned a real estate license, and he remains an agent with Hegg Realtors in Sioux Falls.
Smith ran for the state House of Representatives in 2016 and won a seat in District 15, a swath of downtown Sioux Falls between Interstate 29 and 229.
In his second term, Smith became house minority leader, a position he still holds.
Throughout his time in office, Smith said he has worked to develop a reputation as a builder of bridges between lawmakers of different parties and people who disagree on issues.
“I heard years ago the saying that, ‘We can disagree without being disagreeable,’ and I really do believe that and I try to look for the good in everybody,” Smith said.
In October, Smith traveled through Indian Country in western South Dakota and shot hoops with a young Native boy while also meeting with local residents and officials.
“What they want is someone to work with them and show up and walk beside them, who listens and who avails themselves to them,” he said.
Smith announced his candidacy for governor in February 2022 and began the race with little money or name recognition. He remains well behind in the fundraising category, according to state and federal campaign records. Noem, 50, is running what is believed to be the most highly funded gubernatorial campaign in state history.
Smith has gained significant name recognition since the start of the campaign, as Noem and the state Republican Party have continually attacked Smith.
Smith has brushed aside many of those criticisms, which he said are in some cases downright inaccurate. For example, he said he supports the Second Amendment and is a gun owner, but also supported a bill that would have allowed for removal of guns from people formally declared mentally ill.
Meanwhile, Smith has attacked Noem for her frequent out-ofstate travel, for catering to national political extremists, and what he calls her questionable ethics in regard to use of state planes for personal trips and for interfering in the process to help get her daughter an appraiser’s license, for which Noem was sanctioned by a panel of South Dakota judges.
“South Dakotans know the difference between right and wrong,” Smith said.
To a large extent, Smith has worked to make the campaign one focused on character, trust, truth and honesty — all things he claims Gov. Noem has lost during her political career.
On his campaign website, Smith outlines seven major policy priorities, including the economy, agriculture, healthcare, education, integrity, crime and Native American issues.
“There’s a lot of great people across this state [and] I’d like them to know that there’s a guy who wants to be governor who tells the truth, who is focused on them and their needs, who is willing to jump in there and do the work for the people of South Dakota.'
Tiffany Kortan has been a good friend of Smith for more than 30 years.
“I just feel like he’s a person I can count on, that I’ve always been able to count on, and I think the state of South Dakota can count on him, too,” said Kortan, 51, a math teacher at Sioux Falls Memorial Middle School.
Rep. Chris Johnson, R-Rapid City, is the assistant majority leader in the South Dakota House and has worked with Smith on legislative issues.
“I would not support him for governor, period, because I disagree with his political stances and think they would be very damaging to the state,” Johnson said in an interview. “But personally, I get along with him just fine. He’s a very congenial man and I enjoy his sense of humor and he presents himself very professionally.”
Former lawmaker Karen Soli of Sioux Falls got to know Smith when he was her daughter’s teacher at Axtell Park Middle School.
“He has the gifts: the intelligence, the caring, the thoughtfulness, and the ability to truly work with people and recognize their gifts,” Soli said. “He also has a lot of integrity.”
State Rep. Jennifer Keintz, D-Eden, is a firstterm lawmaker who in July became Smith’s running mate.
Keintz said she is hopeful South Dakota voters from all parties will trust that Smith is the right person to lead the state.
“People are ready for a change ...the question is whether people will be able to make that change. They’re unhappy with Kristi Noem, but will they be able to vote for a different party than they have in the past?”
— This article was produced by South Dakota News Watch, a non-profit journalism organization located online at SDNewsWatch.org.
