Come November, South Dakotans have many choices. That includes the state's lone seat in the U.S. House, a race between incumbent Republican Dusty Johnson and Democratic counterpart Sheryl Johnson.
At Tuesday's Vote South Dakota debate, hosted by SDPB and Dakota News Now, the two candidates remained civil in their disagreements orbiting abortion, the economy, immigration and everything in between.
Beginning with abortion, Democrat Sheryl Johnson said it's one of the key issues motivating her campaign. She said the incumbent is out of touch with the will of Americans on the issue.
“Women are put in danger with these abortion bans, and I don’t think a state-to-state patchwork is the right way to do it because I don’t think it’s anybody’s right to make that decision other than the woman’s," Sheryl Johnson said. "We need to restore Roe V. Wade across the nation so that no matter what state you live in you are protected, have the right to make a decision, and you keep government out of it.”
Republican incumbent Dusty Johnson responded with an acknowledgement the current situation regarding abortion is less than ideal.
“The existing law may not hit the center of the target with regard to miscarriages with regard to children in the womb who are not viable. So, I’m willing to work with Sheryl – I’m willing to work with anybody – to make sure that our existing law does a better job of accounting for those situations," Dusty Johnson said. "I gotta tell you, Amendment G is on the ballot here in a few weeks, and Amendment G does not do that.”
Amendment G is a ballot measure South Dakotans will vote on regarding abortions. While opponents say it’s too extreme to pass, advocates say the proposal simply reestablishes Roe V. Wade protections in South Dakota.
One sharp contrast was found as the two candidates discussed the border. Dusty Johnson said border policy was sound during the Trump administration.
“Listen, it was largely taken care of in the last administration. We can make it seem like this has been a crisis month-in and month-out but the reality is that policy matters, and the policy of the last administration were clearly, clearly better than the policies of this administration,” Dusty Johnson said.
In turn, his Democratic counterpart said the border issue has been continuously punted on by both parties as a political token.
"Both parties have failed to address it. He’s been there six years, he’s taken 81 votes on the border. Why isn’t it fixed? Were those votes not worthwhile?" Sheryl Johnson said. "We have to do something, working together, and we have to fix the system because its not just people coming in, we need them for jobs. We need to get them vetted faster so they can become taxpaying citizens.”
Another difference came in taxing and economic policy, with the challenger questioning who is really benefiting most from the 2017 tax cuts championed by former President Donald Trump.
“The corporate tax rate actually went from 35% down to 25%. That’s less than what a lot of working families are paying for taxes," Sheryl Johnson said. "One thing that was very interesting in this GOP tax cut is they made these tax cuts for working families temporary and they will eventually run out, but they made these tax cuts for corporations permanent. That tells you who they’re working for – the special interests.”
Johnson said she’d advocate for corporations to pay a tax rate above 30%. On the other hand, the incumbent said he’d like to extend the tax cuts, which are set to expire next year - saying the policy keeps American businesses competitive while keeping the market free.
“Before the tax cuts, America had the highest effective corporate tax rate in the developed world. After the tax cuts, we were in the middle of the OECD countries – those are the developed countries of the world," Dusty Johnson said. "We have to care about American competitiveness.”
When asked about ways to reduce gun violence in the country, Dusty Johnson said little good is done with gun regulation, and instead framed the issue as a mental health problem.
“Anytime somebody tries to restrict the gun rights of law-abiding citizens they’ll say ‘oh, this will save lives,’ we have not seen that in the data," Dusty Johnson said. "A few years ago President Biden signed a piece of gun control legislation. Do any of us really think this has changed the trajectory of this violence? Our country is not doing well. At some point, we need a comprehensive reinvestment in behavioral health.”
But his Democratic challenger, a gun owner, said there are some reasonable regulations to put into place.
“We can do a lot as far as training. I know a lot of people I’ve talked to are opposed to the military-style weapons. I don’t think we should ban them, but I would be okay if we regulated them to shooting ranges, farms, and that people had to be trained to use them," Sheryl Johnson said. "I don’t think they should fall into just anybody’s hands, and I certainly don’t think people should be carrying them around Main Street.
The full hour-long debate between Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson and Democratic challenger Sheryl Johnson can be seen below, or at SDPB's Facebook page. A Spanish-language translation is available here.