South Dakota Democrats have failed to find a candidate to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. John Thune.
Democratic Party officials had acknowledged earlier they might not find anyone to run against Thune, a popular politician who is seeking a second term in the Senate. The lack of a Democratic candidate became official Thursday when election officials posted the final list of candidates who submitted nominating petitions to run for statewide offices and the Legislature in the June primary.
State Senate Minority Leader Scott Heidepriem of Sioux Falls, the Democratic candidate for governor, said the party decided not to field a candidate in a futile race against Thune.
"We just concluded that John Thune is an extremely popular senator who is going to win another term in the Senate," Heidepriem said.
Heidepriem said opting not to run a challenger isn't much different than what Republicans did two years ago, when the GOP ran candidates without a chance of defeating the Democratic candidates for Senate and House. He said Democrats could benefit by skipping the Senate race.
"It will allow us to divert resources ... to races we can actually win," Heidepriem said.
Thune was traveling with his family Thursday and couldn't be reached for an interview, said the senator's campaign manager, Justin Brasell.
However, the campaign issued a statement in which Thune said he is grateful for South Dakotans' support. He also said he'll be traveling to help other senators in their campaigns.
Brasell said Thune has been helping the South Dakota GOP raise money for its get-out-the-vote effort in the November election.
Thune also will help the state's Republican nominees for governor and U.S. House after they are chosen in the June primary, Brasell said.
"Senator Thune will aggressively campaign in South Dakota," Brasell said.
Thune also has a separate political action committee, Heartland Values, which will help other candidates financially, Brasell said.
The senator's campaign committee had $6 million in the bank Dec. 31. He has said some of that money could be used to help other GOP candidates, but federal law places some limits on those contributions.
Thune said last year he assumed he would have to raise $10 million for his re-election campaign because his two previous campaigns were expensive, bruising battles. He lost by 524 votes in a challenge of Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson in 2002, and then defeated then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle by 4,508 votes in 2004.
The Democrat most often considered to have sufficient stature to challenge Thune was Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin. She had said she was considering a race for the Senate or the governor's office but decided last year to seek re-election to South Dakota's lone House seat.
Heidepriem then decided to run for governor, leaving the Democrats without a high-profile candidate to challenge Thune.
Thune still could face a challenge from an independent candidate. Those not affiliated with a party have until June 8 to file nominating petitions to get on the November ballot.
