If you ran for office, you won

The 2026 Primary Election is now in the rearview mirror. As with any elections, there were winners and there were losers. That’s the way it works when we vote for our representation. Whether it is for class president in junior high or the President of the United States, voters head to the polls, choose who they want representing them and the chips fall where they may.
But to all of those who stuck their neck out and entered a race, you won. No, you may not have won in a literal sense, but you won. It takes bravery to run for office. It takes courage to walk around with a petition and let people know you seek to represent them. You are giving people a choice. Whenever an election comes around, it’s always better if people have a choice. Some of our races didn’t have choices, while others (such as the Custer County Commission race) had a lot of choices. The more, the better, we say.
We can only assume that in situations where there were incumbents who were unelected the constituents are perfectly happy with the way things are operating. Otherwise, it is safe to assume that someone would have run against those who are already serving in those positions. So, congratulations to those on the Custer City Council, Custer County finance officer Dawn McLaughlin, Register of Deeds Teri Morgan and the others who will serve another term sans election. Clearly the people are happy with your efforts.
In the case of the Custer County Commission, boy was that a close election. Marty Mechaley was the only one of the candidates to receive over 1,000 votes, while most of the rest of the candidates were bunched up with 17 to 13 percent of the votes. There were plenty of good candidates to choose from in that election, and the results certainly seem to reflect that.
Unless you’ve been asleep for a couple of weeks you also now know that we will have a runoff to decide who will be the Republican candidate for governor when the General Election rolls around this fall. Current governor Larry Rhoden will square off with Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden July 28. It will be quite interesting to see how that race shakes out, as well as which direction those who supported Jon Hansen and Dusty Johnson head toward. The supporters of those two candidates will ultimately decide who advances to the fall.
Our governments demand that we have willing candidates who will step forward and represent their fellow citizens. It’s often a thankless job, and we have no doubt that is among the reasons that fewer and fewer people seem to want to run for office. Between that and the time commitment, it can be a daunting task.
For that reason, we say hats off to each and every one of you who threw your hat into the ring, regardless of whether or not you won. If you lost, you can always dust yourself off and try it again in a couple of years. There are also other ways to serve the community. We need all of the helping hands we can get.