{"id":43274,"date":"2024-11-12T18:56:53","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T23:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/?p=43274"},"modified":"2024-11-12T19:01:20","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T00:01:20","slug":"south-dakota-searchlight-republican-ousts-incumbent-native-democratic-lawmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2024\/11\/12\/south-dakota-searchlight-republican-ousts-incumbent-native-democratic-lawmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"South Dakota Searchlight: Republican ousts incumbent Native Democratic lawmaker"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Tamara<\/a>
Tamara Grove, senator-elect for District 26 in the South Dakota Legislature, poses at a Lower Brule Sioux Tribe community center in front of artwork by Dion Stands and Looks Back. Courtesy photo<\/figcaption>\r\n
Lost Democratic seat in state Senate signals newly competitive district<\/div>\r\n
Tuesday, November 12, 2024<\/div>\r\n
By John Hult, South Dakota Searchlight<\/a> <\/div>\r\n

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Some of South Dakota\u2019s tribal areas have long been considered Democratic strongholds so reliable that some GOP political observers had written some seats off as all but unwinnable.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

But Democratic seats in those communities are no longer a given. District 26, which includes parts of the Lower Brule, Crow Creek and Rosebud Sioux reservations, voted last Tuesday to send a Republican to the state Senate for the first time in more than a decade.<\/p>

Tamara Grove<\/a> of Lower Brule beat incumbent Democratic Sen. Shawn Bordeaux of Mission on Tuesday night, with an unofficial tally of 57%-43%. Bordeaux has been a lawmaker for 10 years.<\/p>

The last Republican senator to serve in District 26 was John Koskan, who served as Assistant Majority Leader in his final term in 2006.<\/p>

Grove, who grew up in Miller, moved to Lower Brule with her husband a few years ago from the Sioux Falls area to found a church called The Hope Center<\/a>. The couple has since worked with community members on issues like food sovereignty, Grove said, having planted a large community garden on the church grounds.<\/p>

\u201cWe connected with leadership in some of the biggest communities in Todd County,\u201d Grove said. \u201cThat\u2019s really what it was about: building those relationships.\u201d<\/p>

She said she worked to meet as many people as possible and helped get voters registered in the runup to the election. Grove said she has disagreements on policy with constituents in the majority-Democrat district but found common ground on others.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n