WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.240 So if you picture the modern political battlefield 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:05.379 for a second, what comes to mind? It's loud. 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:08.160 Right. It is incredibly loud. It's performative. 00:00:08.439 --> 00:00:11.160 Very performative. Attention is really the currency 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:13.539 of the realm right now. Exactly. It's all about 00:00:13.539 --> 00:00:16.320 who can get the most engagement on X or who can 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.300 deliver the sickest burn on a primetime cable 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:20.640 news hit. Yeah. The conventional wisdom today 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.460 says that if you aren't making noise, you aren't 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:26.579 making policy. Which brings us to today's deep 00:00:26.579 --> 00:00:29.730 dive. Because we are looking at a stack of sources 00:00:29.730 --> 00:00:31.910 that tell a completely different story. A very 00:00:31.910 --> 00:00:33.850 different story. We're digging into the career 00:00:33.850 --> 00:00:37.270 of what you might call a workhorse. And I don't 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:39.429 mean that as just a cliché. Right. We have this 00:00:39.429 --> 00:00:42.429 fascinating case study in front of us. A guy 00:00:42.429 --> 00:00:46.350 who has seemingly crapped the code on how to 00:00:46.350 --> 00:00:49.450 be a detail -obsessed policy nerd. A technocrat, 00:00:49.509 --> 00:00:51.630 really. Yeah, a technocrat conservative in an 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:54.439 era of high -octane populism. And somehow, he 00:00:54.439 --> 00:00:56.799 is winning his elections by these massive, almost 00:00:56.799 --> 00:00:59.259 North Korean margins in a deep red state. It 00:00:59.259 --> 00:01:01.420 is a statistical anomaly when you look at the 00:01:01.420 --> 00:01:04.599 data. I mean, in a time where being labeled a 00:01:04.599 --> 00:01:06.799 moderate or an institutionalist usually means 00:01:06.799 --> 00:01:08.719 you're about to lose your primary. You mean you're 00:01:08.719 --> 00:01:11.659 dead in the water. Exactly. But this figure totally 00:01:11.659 --> 00:01:14.019 stands out. So we're talking about Dusty Johnson. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.239 For you listening, he is the U .S. representative 00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:18.579 for South Dakota's at -large congressional district. 00:01:18.659 --> 00:01:21.120 The whole state. The whole state, yeah. And the 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.359 big news... The reason we are doing this deep 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:28.040 dive right now is that as of June 30th, 2025, 00:01:28.299 --> 00:01:30.099 so last year, he officially announced his run 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:33.530 for governor. South Dakota for the 2026 election. 00:01:33.730 --> 00:01:35.810 Right. And our mission today isn't just to talk 00:01:35.810 --> 00:01:38.069 about a guy running for governor. No, definitely 00:01:38.069 --> 00:01:40.230 not. If you look at the voting records and the 00:01:40.230 --> 00:01:42.590 biographical data and just the sheer length of 00:01:42.590 --> 00:01:45.329 the resume we've been reviewing, Johnson represents 00:01:45.329 --> 00:01:48.450 a real test case. He really does. He is testing 00:01:48.450 --> 00:01:51.370 whether a politician who cares more about, say, 00:01:51.590 --> 00:01:53.730 the price of ethanol transport than the latest 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:56.689 culture war outrage, whether that guy can actually 00:01:56.689 --> 00:01:59.170 inherit the Magier coalition without actually 00:01:59.170 --> 00:02:02.510 being Magier. And that's the tension right there. 00:02:02.930 --> 00:02:04.810 Because when we tear into his voting record later 00:02:04.810 --> 00:02:07.269 in the show and we have the actual roll call 00:02:07.269 --> 00:02:11.330 votes here, he has done things that, by all conventional 00:02:11.330 --> 00:02:14.050 metrics, should have ended his career. Oh, absolutely. 00:02:14.150 --> 00:02:16.050 I mean, he voted for the January 6th commission. 00:02:16.189 --> 00:02:18.270 Yep. He voted against President Trump's border 00:02:18.270 --> 00:02:20.909 emergency declaration. In almost any other district, 00:02:21.050 --> 00:02:24.430 that is an automatic primary loss. It's game 00:02:24.430 --> 00:02:27.250 over. Right. Just ask Liz Cheney. Or Peter Meijer. 00:02:28.289 --> 00:02:31.870 Exactly. The political graveyard is full of Republicans 00:02:31.870 --> 00:02:34.610 who took those exact same votes. It is a kill 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:36.870 zone. But Dusty Johnson didn't just survive those 00:02:36.870 --> 00:02:39.490 votes, he actually thrived. So that is the central 00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:42.909 question for you today. How do you walk through 00:02:42.909 --> 00:02:46.389 the fire of the post -2020 Republican Party, 00:02:46.669 --> 00:02:49.050 vote against the leader of your party on these 00:02:49.050 --> 00:02:51.389 major institutional issues, and then come out 00:02:51.389 --> 00:02:53.770 the other side with an endorsement from that 00:02:53.770 --> 00:02:55.930 very same leader? It requires a very specific 00:02:55.930 --> 00:02:59.120 toolkit. And to understand it, you really can't 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:00.520 just look at his time in Washington. No, you 00:03:00.520 --> 00:03:02.759 have to go back. You have to go back to 1998. 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:06.300 To a kid in Pierre, South Dakota, who wasn't 00:03:06.300 --> 00:03:09.379 dreaming of being a TV star. He was dreaming 00:03:09.379 --> 00:03:12.300 of being a bureaucrat. So let's open the dossier. 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.840 Second one, the Wendekind. Let's get into it. 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:18.710 So Johnson is born in Pierre in 1976. And right 00:03:18.710 --> 00:03:21.550 off the bat, the local product branding is very 00:03:21.550 --> 00:03:23.889 strong here. Very strong. He graduates from T 00:03:23.889 --> 00:03:26.490 .F. Riggs High School in 1995. And that matters 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:29.370 a lot in a state like South Dakota, because Pierre 00:03:29.370 --> 00:03:31.870 is the capital, but it's also a small town. Right. 00:03:31.870 --> 00:03:34.430 It's not a massive metropolis. No. So being from 00:03:34.430 --> 00:03:36.550 Pierre means you intimately understand the specific 00:03:36.550 --> 00:03:39.050 rhythm of the state government. It's the factory 00:03:39.050 --> 00:03:41.210 town industry of your hometown. That makes total 00:03:41.210 --> 00:03:43.449 sense. The government is the local business. 00:03:44.030 --> 00:03:46.069 And clearly, he was the kid in class who actually 00:03:46.069 --> 00:03:48.159 did the reading. Unquestionably. We're looking 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:49.639 at his time at the University of South Dakota, 00:03:50.099 --> 00:03:52.259 political science degree in 1999. He's in the 00:03:52.259 --> 00:03:55.159 Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He gets Omicron Delta 00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:58.280 Kappa honors. But there is one specific accolade 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:00.819 in this early biography that really signals who 00:04:00.819 --> 00:04:03.039 he's going to become. The Truman scholarship. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:07.110 Yes. In 1998, he was named a Truman Scholar. 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:10.169 And we should pause there, because Truman Scholar 00:04:10.169 --> 00:04:12.669 is one of those terms that gets thrown around 00:04:12.669 --> 00:04:15.550 in political bios, but the implications of it 00:04:15.550 --> 00:04:18.269 are profound for understanding his psychology. 00:04:18.569 --> 00:04:20.850 Yeah, break that down for us. What does being 00:04:20.850 --> 00:04:23.629 a Truman Scholar actually tell us about a college 00:04:23.629 --> 00:04:26.579 student? Because it's not just making the Dean's 00:04:26.579 --> 00:04:29.459 List. Not at all. The Harry S. Truman Scholarship 00:04:29.459 --> 00:04:31.579 isn't just an academic award for getting straight 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:34.699 A's. It is a highly competitive, federally funded 00:04:34.699 --> 00:04:37.839 scholarship granted specifically to U .S. college 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.540 juniors who demonstrate leadership potential 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:42.839 and a firm commitment to public service. So it's 00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:45.379 a very specific track. It is essentially a recruiting 00:04:45.379 --> 00:04:47.240 tool for the future leaders of the government 00:04:47.240 --> 00:04:49.279 bureaucracy. So this isn't for the person who 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:50.560 wants to go to Wall Street and make a billion 00:04:50.560 --> 00:04:53.120 dollars. No. If you see Truman Scholar on a resume, 00:04:53.259 --> 00:04:56.300 it usually means this person is a serious policy 00:04:56.300 --> 00:04:59.279 wonk who intends to spend their entire life inside 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:01.540 the machinery of government. It signals a belief 00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:03.959 that government can actually work. Exactly. It 00:05:03.959 --> 00:05:05.980 shows a belief that government can work if you 00:05:05.980 --> 00:05:08.100 just have the right smart people pulling the 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:10.459 levers. Which is such an interesting contrast 00:05:10.459 --> 00:05:14.300 to the modern populist vibe of, you know, burn 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:16.240 the whole system down. Completely. He starts 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:17.860 his career with a credential that essentially 00:05:17.860 --> 00:05:20.680 says, I believe in the system. And the sources 00:05:20.680 --> 00:05:23.800 show he did exactly that. As a Truman scholar, 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:26.220 he went out to D .C. to work for the U .S. Department 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:28.519 of Agriculture. Getting that federal experience 00:05:28.519 --> 00:05:30.879 early. Right. And then he gets his master of 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:32.860 public administration from the University of 00:05:32.860 --> 00:05:36.819 Kansas. He is literally stacking up these credentials 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:40.759 that scream competent administrator. And he puts 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:43.269 those administrative credentials to use. Almost 00:05:43.269 --> 00:05:46.670 immediately. In 2003, he works as a senior policy 00:05:46.670 --> 00:05:49.110 advisor for then Governor Mike Rounds. But the 00:05:49.110 --> 00:05:52.449 real leap, the moment he stops being just a staffer 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:55.610 and becomes an actual player, is in 2004. The 00:05:55.610 --> 00:05:58.069 Public Utilities Commission? Did you see? Now 00:05:58.069 --> 00:05:59.550 I know what you listening are probably thinking. 00:06:00.230 --> 00:06:02.410 You were promised a fascinating political deep 00:06:02.410 --> 00:06:04.829 dive, and now we are talking about utility rates. 00:06:05.009 --> 00:06:07.290 I know it sounds like the absolute driest, most 00:06:07.290 --> 00:06:10.319 sedate job in all of government. But stick with 00:06:10.319 --> 00:06:12.980 us here, because the sources suggest this was 00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:16.220 actually a political masterstroke. This is really 00:06:16.220 --> 00:06:18.620 where the Dusty Johnson brand is born. Absolutely. 00:06:18.759 --> 00:06:21.420 He gets elected to the PUC in 2004. And we have 00:06:21.420 --> 00:06:25.160 to highlight the key stat here. He was the youngest 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.360 utilities commissioner in the entire nation at 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:29.699 that time. The youngest in the nation. That is 00:06:29.699 --> 00:06:33.120 such a bold move. You're in your late 20s and 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:35.360 you are regulating electricity and telephone 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:39.199 rates. Right. Why would a 28 -year -old political 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:41.139 upstart want to be a utilities commissioner? 00:06:41.740 --> 00:06:43.740 Why not run for the state legislature where you 00:06:43.740 --> 00:06:45.860 can give big speeches? You really have to look 00:06:45.860 --> 00:06:48.139 at the power dynamics of a rural state like South 00:06:48.139 --> 00:06:50.800 Dakota to understand it. Okay. In a major city, 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:52.860 you might not think about your utility regulator 00:06:52.860 --> 00:06:55.620 unless the power goes out. But in South Dakota, 00:06:55.850 --> 00:06:58.250 This is an agricultural economy. Right. Farming 00:06:58.250 --> 00:07:01.290 is everything. Exactly. So who regulates the 00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:04.629 rates for grain drying? The PUC. Who regulates 00:07:04.629 --> 00:07:07.050 the cost of electricity to pump water for heavy 00:07:07.050 --> 00:07:10.329 irrigation? The PUC. So by taking this boring 00:07:10.329 --> 00:07:13.129 job, he is actually inserting himself directly 00:07:13.129 --> 00:07:15.430 into the balance sheet of every single farm in 00:07:15.430 --> 00:07:18.149 the state. Precisely. Who is responsible for 00:07:18.149 --> 00:07:20.649 whether or not a farmer can get broadband internet 00:07:20.649 --> 00:07:24.089 to run their modern precision agriculture equipment? 00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:28.040 It's the PUC. Wow. So Dusty Johnson wasn't out 00:07:28.040 --> 00:07:30.379 there debating flag burning or school prayer. 00:07:30.759 --> 00:07:33.339 He was debating how much it costs to run a family 00:07:33.339 --> 00:07:35.959 farm. That is a crucial distinction. It's kitchen 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:38.259 table politics, but even more specific than that, 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:41.100 it's barn politics. Barn politics, I like that. 00:07:41.379 --> 00:07:43.829 And he excelled at it. He became the chairman 00:07:43.829 --> 00:07:46.769 of the PUC by 2007. And he wasn't just sitting 00:07:46.769 --> 00:07:49.310 there keeping the lights on. He was highly active. 00:07:49.569 --> 00:07:51.829 Right. I saw that in the notes. In 2010, he leads 00:07:51.829 --> 00:07:54.410 this delegation to meet with the FCC commissioners 00:07:54.410 --> 00:07:57.149 regarding the national broadband plan. He's down 00:07:57.149 --> 00:07:59.529 in D .C. arguing with federal regulators about 00:07:59.529 --> 00:08:02.170 the definition of broadband for rural providers. 00:08:02.610 --> 00:08:05.310 Which, again, sounds highly technical. But if 00:08:05.310 --> 00:08:07.910 you are living in a town of 400 people and Netflix 00:08:07.910 --> 00:08:11.170 is buffering constantly. Or, more importantly, 00:08:11.310 --> 00:08:13.889 you can't upload your crop yield data to the 00:08:13.889 --> 00:08:16.769 futures market. Exactly. The guy who is fighting 00:08:16.769 --> 00:08:19.529 to fix that infrastructure is a hero to you. 00:08:19.930 --> 00:08:22.089 And he did it without ever having to take a stance 00:08:22.089 --> 00:08:25.649 on a polarizing social issue. This is the absolute 00:08:25.649 --> 00:08:28.990 foundation of his problem -solver brand. It's 00:08:28.990 --> 00:08:31.449 almost a shelter from the political storm. You 00:08:31.449 --> 00:08:34.029 can't really get primaried from the right. on 00:08:34.029 --> 00:08:36.129 electricity rates in the same way you can on 00:08:36.129 --> 00:08:38.769 immigration or taxes. Precisely. It insulated 00:08:38.769 --> 00:08:41.029 him completely. The lights either turn on or 00:08:41.029 --> 00:08:42.870 they don't. The internet works or it doesn't. 00:08:42.909 --> 00:08:45.190 It is a binary metric of success that everyone 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:47.590 agrees on. And that transition from youngest 00:08:47.590 --> 00:08:50.690 commissioner to a serious policy heavyweight 00:08:50.690 --> 00:08:53.250 sets him up perfectly for his next role. Because 00:08:53.250 --> 00:08:56.110 in 2011, he resigns from the PUC. But he doesn't 00:08:56.110 --> 00:08:58.549 quit public service. No, he goes deeper inside. 00:08:59.190 --> 00:09:01.889 Which brings us to segment two, the operator. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:04.580 In 2011, Governor Dennis Daughert takes office 00:09:04.580 --> 00:09:07.299 and he taps Dusty Johnson to be his chief of 00:09:07.299 --> 00:09:09.679 staff. Now, chief of staff is a title that can 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:11.279 mean a lot of different things depending on the 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:13.500 specific administration. Right. Sometimes it's 00:09:13.500 --> 00:09:16.139 just a glorified scheduler. Sometimes it's a 00:09:16.139 --> 00:09:18.419 political hatchet man who just handles the dirty 00:09:18.419 --> 00:09:20.779 work. But the description of his role during 00:09:20.779 --> 00:09:23.440 the Daughert administration in our sources is 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.580 really telling. The material refers to him as 00:09:26.580 --> 00:09:29.240 the, quote, chief operating officer for much 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:33.220 of state government. The COO. Exactly. A COO 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:35.879 model implies he was actually running the machinery 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:39.519 day to day. He was supervising cabinet secretaries, 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:42.379 overseeing policy advisors, and managing the 00:09:42.379 --> 00:09:44.960 governor's core initiatives. So he's not just 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:47.100 the guy guarding the door to the Oval Office, 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:48.919 so to speak. He's the guy making sure the gears 00:09:48.919 --> 00:09:51.919 are actually turning. Think about the level of 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.649 detail that requires. You have to know the budget 00:09:54.649 --> 00:09:56.409 constraints of the Department of Transportation. 00:09:56.809 --> 00:09:58.690 You have to know the personnel issues in the 00:09:58.690 --> 00:10:00.490 Department of Social Services. You have to know 00:10:00.490 --> 00:10:02.710 how to negotiate with the legislature to get 00:10:02.710 --> 00:10:05.570 the governor's agenda passed. Right. So if you 00:10:05.570 --> 00:10:07.289 are a voter in South Dakota looking at him right 00:10:07.289 --> 00:10:09.970 now in 2026 for governor, you are looking at 00:10:09.970 --> 00:10:12.509 a guy who has technically already run the government. 00:10:12.830 --> 00:10:14.850 That is the argument he is undoubtedly making 00:10:14.850 --> 00:10:17.750 on the campaign trail. He has seen the job from 00:10:17.750 --> 00:10:20.370 the inside. He knows where the bodies are buried 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:22.960 or at least where the files are stored. And he 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.039 did that operational work for four solid years 00:10:26.039 --> 00:10:29.759 until 2014. And then comes the pivot. Yeah. He 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:32.899 leaves the Dugard administration. And his successor 00:10:32.899 --> 00:10:36.080 there is Tony Van Hoosen, by the way. But Johnson 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:38.399 doesn't go straight to running for office himself 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:40.659 yet. No, he goes into the private sector. He 00:10:40.659 --> 00:10:43.100 joins Vantage Point Solutions in Mitchell, South 00:10:43.100 --> 00:10:45.769 Dakota as vice president. Which, again, fits 00:10:45.769 --> 00:10:48.250 the broader narrative perfectly. Tell us about 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:50.389 Vantage Point Solutions, because this isn't just 00:10:50.389 --> 00:10:52.350 a situation where he goes to a white shoe law 00:10:52.350 --> 00:10:54.889 firm to cash out. No, not at all. Vantage Point 00:10:54.889 --> 00:10:57.409 Solutions is an engineering and consulting firm 00:10:57.409 --> 00:11:00.429 heavily involved in broadband and telecommunications. 00:11:00.590 --> 00:11:02.549 Interesting. So think about the thread here. 00:11:03.070 --> 00:11:06.289 He regulates broadband at the PUC. He oversees 00:11:06.289 --> 00:11:08.389 the state's infrastructure as chief of staff. 00:11:08.559 --> 00:11:10.799 And now he goes directly to the private sector 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:13.519 to actually help build out that rural infrastructure. 00:11:13.860 --> 00:11:15.840 It really does feel like he was systematically 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:19.100 checking boxes on a perfect candidate bingo card. 00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:22.740 It does. Public service. Check. Executive management. 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:26.379 Check. Private sector business experience. Check. 00:11:26.700 --> 00:11:29.559 It completely rounds out the resume. It insulates 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:32.100 him from the standard criticism that he's a career 00:11:32.100 --> 00:11:34.120 politician who has never signed the front of 00:11:34.120 --> 00:11:37.019 a paycheck. His career up to that point had been 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:39.399 overwhelmingly public facing. Right. But it gives 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:41.879 him that businessman credential that conservative 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:45.779 voters value so highly. So by 2018, he is completely 00:11:45.779 --> 00:11:49.100 ready. The seat opens up. Kristi Noem, who was 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:51.259 the U .S. representative at the time, decides 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:54.559 to run for governor. A path Dusty is now replicating 00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.179 almost step for step, by the way. Exactly. And 00:11:57.179 --> 00:11:59.320 Dusty throws his hat in the ring for Congress. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:04.139 Which brings us to segment three. The Congressman. 00:12:04.330 --> 00:12:07.190 The 2018 election was his real introduction to 00:12:07.190 --> 00:12:09.870 the national stage, but it was also a major test 00:12:09.870 --> 00:12:12.549 of his local strength. He had a competitive primary. 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:14.850 He had to beat Chantel Krebs, who was the secretary 00:12:14.850 --> 00:12:17.169 of state, and Neil Tapio, a state senator. And 00:12:17.169 --> 00:12:19.549 he won that primary with nearly 47 percent of 00:12:19.549 --> 00:12:21.850 the vote in a three way race. Which is very strong. 00:12:22.110 --> 00:12:24.029 And then he cruises through the general election 00:12:24.029 --> 00:12:26.590 against the Democrat Tim Yorkman with over 60 00:12:26.590 --> 00:12:28.970 percent. Once he gets to Washington in 2019, 00:12:29.169 --> 00:12:32.070 he does not waste any time defining his political 00:12:32.070 --> 00:12:35.100 identity. And this is crucial for you to understand 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:37.799 his trajectory. He didn't join the Freedom Caucus. 00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:40.200 He didn't join the bomb throwers or the cable 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:42.519 news regulars. He joined the Problem Solvers 00:12:42.519 --> 00:12:46.039 Caucus. Yes. Immediately upon arrival. For anyone 00:12:46.039 --> 00:12:47.580 listening who might hear that name and think 00:12:47.580 --> 00:12:50.080 it's just a generic campaign slogan. What does 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:52.799 the Problem Solvers Caucus actually signify in 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:55.720 D .C.? The Problem Solvers Caucus is a formal 00:12:55.720 --> 00:12:59.039 bipartisan group. It's composed of roughly equal 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:01.159 numbers of Democrats and Republicans committed 00:13:01.159 --> 00:13:03.720 to finding common ground on legislation. So it's 00:13:03.720 --> 00:13:07.080 a structured voting block. Exactly. By joining 00:13:07.080 --> 00:13:10.019 it, and by also becoming the chair of the Republican 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:12.559 Main Street Partnership, Johnson was planting 00:13:12.559 --> 00:13:15.299 a very specific flag. What was the message? He 00:13:15.299 --> 00:13:18.019 was saying, I am a pragmatist. I am here to govern, 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:20.480 not to agitate. It's the brand of the adult in 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.539 the room. Precisely. And often, in media shorthand, 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:25.860 that brand is viewed as moderate or centrist. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.019 And in today's GOP, moderate can sometimes be 00:13:29.019 --> 00:13:32.740 a very dirty word. It can get you labeled a rhino. 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:35.600 Republican in name only. But here's the fascinating 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:38.139 thing about Dusty Johnson. His voting record 00:13:38.139 --> 00:13:41.440 isn't necessarily liberal at all. It's just procedural. 00:13:42.120 --> 00:13:45.639 And despite that moderate branding look at his 00:13:45.639 --> 00:13:47.240 electoral dominance. Oh, the numbers we have 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:50.779 here are wild. Let's look at 2020. He has a primary 00:13:50.779 --> 00:13:54.840 challenger, Liz Marty May. He beats her 77 percent 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:57.960 to 23 percent. A blowout. And then in the general 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:01.159 election, he gets 81 percent of the vote. 81%. 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:03.139 That is a staggering number. You just don't see 00:14:03.139 --> 00:14:05.580 that in contested federal elections. And then 00:14:05.580 --> 00:14:08.919 2022 comes along. Now this is post -January 6th. 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.779 The political climate has shifted dramatically. 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:13.960 Very much so. He gets a primary challenge from 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:17.220 his right, Taffy Howard, and she is coming at 00:14:17.220 --> 00:14:19.440 him specifically on his voting record, which 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:21.440 we will get to in a minute. This really should 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:23.659 have been his vulnerable moment. But it was closer, 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:26.549 relatively speaking. But he still won 59 percent 00:14:26.549 --> 00:14:29.129 to 40 percent. In a primary, a nearly 20 point 00:14:29.129 --> 00:14:31.490 win is still highly decisive. It's a mandate. 00:14:31.769 --> 00:14:34.470 And then he turns around in 2024 and wins the 00:14:34.470 --> 00:14:37.350 general with 72 percent. So he is essentially 00:14:37.350 --> 00:14:41.570 bulletproof electorally. But why? Because when 00:14:41.570 --> 00:14:44.649 we look at segment four, the tightrope walk. 00:14:45.250 --> 00:14:47.710 His voting record is not what you would expect 00:14:47.710 --> 00:14:49.789 from someone with that level of support in a 00:14:49.789 --> 00:14:51.990 deep red state. No, it certainly isn't. And this 00:14:51.990 --> 00:14:53.570 is where we really have to give you the nuance 00:14:53.570 --> 00:14:56.669 of the situation. Right. Dusty Johnson has established 00:14:56.669 --> 00:14:59.710 a record of what I would call independent institutionalism. 00:15:00.230 --> 00:15:03.090 He has taken votes that directly defied President 00:15:03.090 --> 00:15:05.590 Trump and the Madge movement specifically on 00:15:05.590 --> 00:15:08.110 issues of executive power and the democratic 00:15:08.110 --> 00:15:10.169 process. We have to talk about the elephant in 00:15:10.169 --> 00:15:12.779 the room. or rather the elephant that trampled 00:15:12.779 --> 00:15:14.940 the room, the Trump years. This is where the 00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:18.019 case study of Dusty Johnson gets incredibly complicated. 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:20.879 Because up until 2019, you could argue he's just 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:22.539 a standard chamber of commerce conservative. 00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:25.539 But then he gets to Congress and almost immediately 00:15:25.539 --> 00:15:28.139 he starts taking votes that seem designed to 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:30.379 antagonize the leader of his party. Let's look 00:15:30.379 --> 00:15:32.980 at the timeline from the sources. March 2019, 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:35.600 he has been in Congress for maybe eight weeks. 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:38.600 He is fresh off the boat. President Trump declares 00:15:38.600 --> 00:15:41.559 a national emergency to fund the border wall 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:44.019 because Congress wouldn't appropriate the cash 00:15:44.019 --> 00:15:47.919 he wanted. Now, to be clear here, Johnson supports 00:15:47.919 --> 00:15:51.039 the wall. The sources note he has an A rating 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:53.860 from strict immigration groups. He's not a fan 00:15:53.860 --> 00:15:56.440 of open borders. Correct. He absolutely wants 00:15:56.440 --> 00:15:59.179 the wall built, but he votes with the Democrats 00:15:59.179 --> 00:16:02.139 to override President Trump's veto of the measure 00:16:02.139 --> 00:16:04.440 that would have revoked that emergency declaration. 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.230 Whoa. So he voted to stop Trump from using emergency 00:16:08.230 --> 00:16:11.350 powers to build the wall. Why? If you want the 00:16:11.350 --> 00:16:14.129 wall, why vote to stop the guy building it? Because 00:16:14.129 --> 00:16:17.399 Johnson is an institutionalist first. The source 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:20.200 material highlights his core argument here. The 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:22.779 Constitution says Congress holds the purse strings, 00:16:23.159 --> 00:16:25.679 Article 1. The power of the purse. Exactly. If 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:27.940 the president can just declare an emergency to 00:16:27.940 --> 00:16:30.480 spend money that Congress specifically did not 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.240 approve, the executive branch essentially becomes 00:16:32.240 --> 00:16:34.559 a king. Right. Johnson was arguing essentially, 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:36.840 I want the wall, but I don't want a king. That 00:16:36.840 --> 00:16:39.580 is a very nuanced law school classroom type of 00:16:39.580 --> 00:16:42.039 argument. It is. It is a process over outcome 00:16:42.039 --> 00:16:45.269 argument, which is rare today. And usually those 00:16:45.269 --> 00:16:47.710 nuanced process arguments get you absolutely 00:16:47.710 --> 00:16:50.149 shredded in Republican primary. They get you 00:16:50.149 --> 00:16:52.629 labeled a rhino immediately. Your opponents just 00:16:52.629 --> 00:16:54.629 say, oh, he cares more about process than securing 00:16:54.629 --> 00:16:57.230 the border. And he was one of only 14 Republicans 00:16:57.230 --> 00:17:00.409 to take that vote. That is a very lonely island 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:03.110 to be on. He stayed against the vast majority 00:17:03.110 --> 00:17:05.329 of his own conference. So how did he survive 00:17:05.329 --> 00:17:08.099 that? I think it comes down to his communication 00:17:08.099 --> 00:17:10.579 style back home. What did he do? He didn't go 00:17:10.579 --> 00:17:12.660 on a liberal cable network and say Trump is a 00:17:12.660 --> 00:17:15.480 danger to democracy. He went back to South Dakota 00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.079 and held town halls and said, look folks, if 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:19.819 we let a Republican president do this today, 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:22.440 a Democratic president is going to do it tomorrow 00:17:22.440 --> 00:17:25.200 for gun control or climate change. We have to 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:27.950 protect the checkbook. Ah, he made it about the 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:30.430 future threat of Democrats. That is incredibly 00:17:30.430 --> 00:17:32.970 smart politics. It is highly disciplined. He 00:17:32.970 --> 00:17:35.490 framed it as a conservative defense of the Constitution, 00:17:35.750 --> 00:17:38.250 not a personal attack on Trump. But then the 00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:40.950 difficulty ramped up significantly. The 2020 00:17:40.950 --> 00:17:43.609 election aftermath. The ultimate litmus test 00:17:43.609 --> 00:17:47.569 for the modern GOP. The certification. When the 00:17:47.569 --> 00:17:50.650 lawsuit, Texas versus Pennsylvania, was filed 00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:53.250 at the Supreme Court to contest the election 00:17:53.250 --> 00:17:55.950 results, a majority of Republican members of 00:17:55.950 --> 00:17:59.190 Congress signed an amicus brief supporting it. 00:17:59.509 --> 00:18:01.190 They formally put their names on the document 00:18:01.190 --> 00:18:03.569 saying throw out these votes. But Dusty Johnson 00:18:03.569 --> 00:18:06.930 did not. He sat it out. He did not sign the brief. 00:18:07.109 --> 00:18:09.829 And then on January 6th, when it came time to 00:18:09.829 --> 00:18:12.789 certify the Electoral College votes, he voted 00:18:12.789 --> 00:18:15.529 to certify the results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania. 00:18:16.440 --> 00:18:18.940 He formally accepted the election outcome. And 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:20.779 that alone was enough to end careers for some 00:18:20.779 --> 00:18:23.240 Republicans. Just acknowledging Biden won was 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:25.160 considered a massive betrayal in some circles. 00:18:25.339 --> 00:18:28.200 But he went even further. May 2021, the January 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:31.019 6th commission. This is perhaps his most striking 00:18:31.019 --> 00:18:33.640 vote. There was a bill to establish an independent 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:36.000 bipartisan commission to investigate the storming 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:38.259 of the Capitol. And just to be clear, this is 00:18:38.259 --> 00:18:40.579 not the select committee that Nancy Pelosi eventually 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:43.339 set up. This was the original bipartisan proposal. 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:46.039 Right. And most of the GOP leadership had turned 00:18:46.039 --> 00:18:48.319 against it by the time the vote actually happened. 00:18:48.539 --> 00:18:50.480 Kevin McCarthy was actively whipping against 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:54.180 it. But Dusty Johnson was one of only 35 Republicans 00:18:54.180 --> 00:18:57.119 who joined all the Democrats to vote yes. He 00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.480 voted for the commission. He wanted the investigation. 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:02.640 I stopped cold when I saw this in the data. Why 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:05.720 would he take that risk? He argued that the country 00:19:05.720 --> 00:19:07.940 needed to know the truth. He called it a dark 00:19:07.940 --> 00:19:09.619 day and said we shouldn't just sweep it under 00:19:09.619 --> 00:19:11.819 the rug. And he also voted to keep Liz Cheney 00:19:11.819 --> 00:19:14.740 in leadership. He did. During the second vote 00:19:14.740 --> 00:19:17.980 to oust her as Republican conference chair, he 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:20.740 voted to keep her in her post. OK, so let's stack 00:19:20.740 --> 00:19:24.220 this all up. He denied Trump his emergency wall 00:19:24.220 --> 00:19:27.460 funding. He validated the 2020 election results. 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:30.339 He voted to investigate the Capitol riot. And 00:19:30.339 --> 00:19:32.420 he supported the woman who became Trump's arch 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:35.480 nemesis, Liz Cheney. By all conventional political 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:38.119 physics, Dusty Johnson should be a former congressman 00:19:38.119 --> 00:19:40.019 right now. He should be working at a think tank 00:19:40.019 --> 00:19:42.480 or a lobbying firm. But then we look at the timeline 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:46.779 again. June 2020. Donald Trump formally endorses 00:19:46.779 --> 00:19:49.319 him. He calls him, quote, a phenomenal advocate 00:19:49.319 --> 00:19:52.259 for the people of South Dakota. How does that 00:19:52.259 --> 00:19:54.420 happen? How do you vote against the leader of 00:19:54.420 --> 00:19:56.619 the party on the most sensitive loyalty issues 00:19:56.619 --> 00:19:59.660 and still get the phenomenal advocate stamp of 00:19:59.660 --> 00:20:02.339 approval? I think it comes down to how Johnson 00:20:02.339 --> 00:20:05.000 frames these votes and perhaps more importantly 00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:07.480 his sheer utility to the party. Utility in what 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.319 way? Johnson doesn't make it personal. He never 00:20:10.319 --> 00:20:12.599 attacked Trump's character in the press. He attacked 00:20:12.599 --> 00:20:15.740 the procedure. And simultaneous to that, he is 00:20:15.740 --> 00:20:18.380 working incredibly hard on the things that actually 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:21.619 matter to South Dakota voters and to the administration's 00:20:21.619 --> 00:20:23.869 policy goals. Like agriculture infrastructure 00:20:23.869 --> 00:20:26.470 trade? Essentially, yes. When Trump needed a 00:20:26.470 --> 00:20:29.369 vote on the USMCA trade deal, Johnson was there 00:20:29.369 --> 00:20:31.650 whipping for it. When the administration needed 00:20:31.650 --> 00:20:34.230 help drafting complicated ag policy, Johnson 00:20:34.230 --> 00:20:36.309 was the expert, they called. So in politics, 00:20:36.609 --> 00:20:38.849 utility often trumps purity. It really does. 00:20:38.890 --> 00:20:41.549 He was simply too useful to purge. That is a 00:20:41.549 --> 00:20:43.710 fascinating insight. He made himself completely 00:20:43.710 --> 00:20:45.890 indispensable on the boring stuff so he could 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:48.630 afford to have a conscience on the constitutional 00:20:48.630 --> 00:20:50.799 stuff. That is a perfect way to put it. And that 00:20:50.799 --> 00:20:53.880 brings us perfectly to segment five, policy nuance. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:56.000 Because if you only look at those specific Trump 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.420 votes, you might think, oh, he's just a secret 00:20:57.420 --> 00:21:00.119 Democrat. Right. But when you look at his actual 00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:03.460 policy work from the sources, that theory falls 00:21:03.460 --> 00:21:06.599 apart completely. He's not a liberal. Let's look 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:09.619 at the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022. This 00:21:09.619 --> 00:21:13.000 was the bill to codify same -sex marriage into 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:15.400 federal law and Johnson voted against it. He 00:21:15.400 --> 00:21:18.940 voted no Along with South Dakota senators Thunen 00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:22.039 rounds This is a key data point for you to consider 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:25.539 if he were a squish or a liberal in disguise 00:21:25.539 --> 00:21:28.140 This would be the exact vote to flip on it was 00:21:28.140 --> 00:21:31.160 a popular bill nationally But his rationale was 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:34.099 very specific and very conservative was the argument 00:21:34.099 --> 00:21:36.700 he made He argued that the bill didn't provide 00:21:36.700 --> 00:21:38.720 sufficient protections for religious beliefs. 00:21:39.380 --> 00:21:41.480 He explicitly stated, if Congress is going to 00:21:41.480 --> 00:21:43.880 codify the Supreme Court's gay marriage decision, 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:46.299 the religious protections need to be airtight. 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:49.079 And they weren't. He also made a federalism argument, 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:51.380 right? He basically said this isn't Congress's 00:21:51.380 --> 00:21:54.109 business to begin with. Exactly. During his twenty 00:21:54.109 --> 00:21:56.230 twenty two campaign, he argued that marriage 00:21:56.230 --> 00:21:58.170 is fundamentally the business of the states. 00:21:58.390 --> 00:22:00.309 He pointed to the full faith and credit provision 00:22:00.309 --> 00:22:02.750 of the Constitution. Right. Arguing that states 00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:04.930 already have to recognize legal acts from other 00:22:04.930 --> 00:22:07.230 states. So federal law simply wasn't necessary. 00:22:07.829 --> 00:22:10.430 He dismissed it as a political show bill orchestrated 00:22:10.430 --> 00:22:13.789 by Nancy Pelosi. So on social issues, he sticks 00:22:13.789 --> 00:22:16.809 to a pretty traditional conservative line. Religious 00:22:16.809 --> 00:22:19.640 liberty and states rights. He is not crossing 00:22:19.640 --> 00:22:21.980 the aisle on culture war issues in the same way 00:22:21.980 --> 00:22:24.779 he does on institutional ones. Correct. He is 00:22:24.779 --> 00:22:27.299 highly reliable where the base expects him to 00:22:27.299 --> 00:22:30.400 be reliable on core social values. But then look 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:32.859 at his economic policy. Yeah. This is where the 00:22:32.859 --> 00:22:34.700 problem solvers populist side really comes out. 00:22:34.859 --> 00:22:38.240 Yes, the antitrust legislation. In 2022, he voted 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.799 for the Merger Filing Fee Modernization Act. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.640 That is a mouthful. What does it actually do? 00:22:43.779 --> 00:22:45.839 It's essentially an antitrust package. It was 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.059 designed to crack down on massive corporations 00:22:48.059 --> 00:22:51.079 for anti -competitive behavior. Wait, a Republican 00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:53.220 voting to crack down on corporations? That sounds 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.839 pretty unusual. It used to be highly unusual, 00:22:56.140 --> 00:22:58.779 but the party is shifting on economics. And he 00:22:58.779 --> 00:23:01.920 was one of only 39 Republicans to vote for it. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.400 So he's willing to go after big business when 00:23:04.400 --> 00:23:07.019 he thinks they're monopolistic. Which perfectly 00:23:07.019 --> 00:23:10.059 fits the Main Street branding. He's pro -business, 00:23:10.299 --> 00:23:13.839 but he's pro -competition. It's a nuanced position 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:16.640 that separates him from the old -school laissez 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:18.980 -faire corporate Republicans. He is acknowledging 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:21.559 that sometimes big companies get too big and 00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:24.039 actually hurt the little guy, the farmer, the 00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:26.140 small business owner in Pierre. It's a prairie 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:28.500 populism almost. Prairie populism. I love that. 00:23:28.660 --> 00:23:30.140 And we can't ignore his committee of scientists. 00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:32.500 They tell the whole story of his priorities in 00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:35.200 D .C. Agriculture is the obvious one. Subcommittees 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.200 on nutrition oversight commodity exchanges. Crucial 00:23:38.200 --> 00:23:40.960 for South Dakota. Absolutely. And transportation 00:23:40.960 --> 00:23:44.039 and infrastructure. Aviation highways, railroads. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:47.660 That directly matches his old PUC background. 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:49.339 And the select committee on the Chinese Communist 00:23:49.339 --> 00:23:51.640 Party. That's a massive one. Tell us about that 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:53.660 committee because it sounds intense. That is 00:23:53.660 --> 00:23:56.519 a very high profile, highly strategic assignment. 00:23:56.740 --> 00:23:59.420 It was set up to investigate the economic and 00:23:59.420 --> 00:24:02.059 security threat posed by the CCP. So it's not 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:04.750 a joke assignment. Not at all. Being put on that 00:24:04.750 --> 00:24:07.210 committee shows that House leadership fundamentally 00:24:07.210 --> 00:24:10.609 trusts him with sensitive, high -level geopolitical 00:24:10.609 --> 00:24:13.789 work. It's a serious committee for serious members. 00:24:14.130 --> 00:24:17.009 It is not a place for showboating. And then on 00:24:17.009 --> 00:24:18.670 the lighter side, we absolutely have to mention 00:24:18.670 --> 00:24:21.089 the Congressional Motorcycle Caucus. Oh yes, 00:24:21.150 --> 00:24:23.049 you have to have the Motorcycle Caucus. Does 00:24:23.049 --> 00:24:25.230 he actually ride? The source material notes he's 00:24:25.230 --> 00:24:28.049 a member. And it certainly helps the image, you 00:24:28.049 --> 00:24:30.990 know, the policy nerd with the glasses who can 00:24:30.990 --> 00:24:33.269 also hop on a Harley on the weekends. It adds 00:24:33.269 --> 00:24:36.470 a layer of relatability that shouldn't be underestimated 00:24:36.470 --> 00:24:38.849 in a rural state like South Dakota. It really 00:24:38.849 --> 00:24:41.829 humanizes him. It says, I might read 400 page 00:24:41.829 --> 00:24:44.950 legislative bills for fun, but I also enjoy the 00:24:44.950 --> 00:24:47.109 open road. So that brings us to the present, 00:24:47.849 --> 00:24:51.990 or rather the near past. Segment six, the future. 00:24:52.210 --> 00:24:54.150 The culmination of everything we've analyzed 00:24:54.150 --> 00:24:58.779 today. June 30th, 2025, Dusty Johnson officially 00:24:58.779 --> 00:25:00.759 announces he is running for governor of South 00:25:00.759 --> 00:25:03.880 Dakota for the 2026 election. It really feels 00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:06.140 like the closing of a loop, doesn't it? It does. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:08.759 He started as the COO of the state under Dogard. 00:25:09.299 --> 00:25:11.980 He went to Washington, built a massive legislative 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:15.059 network, survived the wildest parts of the Trump 00:25:15.059 --> 00:25:18.099 years, kept his approval ratings sky high. And 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:19.859 now he wants to come home and actually run the 00:25:19.859 --> 00:25:21.980 show as the executive. And if you look at the 00:25:21.980 --> 00:25:26.099 trajectory. It makes perfect logical sense. He's 00:25:26.099 --> 00:25:28.519 effectively applying for a promotion to a job 00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:30.859 he arguably already did as chief of staff 10 00:25:30.859 --> 00:25:32.700 years ago. But now he's coming back with federal 00:25:32.700 --> 00:25:35.799 experience, a national profile, and a massive 00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:38.220 war chest. And let's be honest, he's also offering 00:25:38.220 --> 00:25:40.460 a pretty stark contrast to the current administration 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:42.920 in South Dakota. Yeah. Kristi Noem has been a 00:25:42.920 --> 00:25:45.940 very high profile national media figure. Dusty 00:25:45.940 --> 00:25:48.059 Johnson seems to be offering a return to well 00:25:48.059 --> 00:25:50.789 boredom. I think competence is the word his campaign 00:25:50.789 --> 00:25:53.230 would prefer to use. Fair enough. If we had to 00:25:53.230 --> 00:25:55.690 speculate based strictly on the data and the 00:25:55.690 --> 00:25:58.329 history we've reviewed today, what kind of governor 00:25:58.329 --> 00:26:01.410 would he actually be? Based on the PUC era and 00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:03.910 his time as chief of staff. Exactly. The source 00:26:03.910 --> 00:26:08.049 material points to a governor who would be extremely 00:26:08.049 --> 00:26:10.650 detail oriented. He is not going to be a governor 00:26:10.650 --> 00:26:12.730 who just signs bills for the photo op and cuts 00:26:12.730 --> 00:26:14.549 ribbons. He's going to be in the weeds. Very 00:26:14.549 --> 00:26:16.150 much in the weeds. He's going to be looking at 00:26:16.150 --> 00:26:18.670 the operational efficiency of state agencies. 00:26:19.170 --> 00:26:21.869 He's going to be obsessed with broadband maps 00:26:21.869 --> 00:26:24.869 and rural utility rates. A manager in chief. 00:26:25.289 --> 00:26:28.569 Yes, a true technocrat executive and politically. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:30.900 I think we can expect him to be quite independent 00:26:30.900 --> 00:26:32.819 minded. He's proven that already. He has proven 00:26:32.819 --> 00:26:35.259 he isn't afraid to buck the National Party trends 00:26:35.259 --> 00:26:37.960 if he genuinely thinks it's right for South Dakota 00:26:37.960 --> 00:26:40.839 or right for his reading of the Constitution. 00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:43.440 But as we saw with the marriage vote, he will 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.039 likely remain staunchly conservative on social 00:26:46.039 --> 00:26:48.819 issues and religious liberty. It's a very powerful 00:26:48.819 --> 00:26:51.819 combination. Competence plus conservatism plus 00:26:51.819 --> 00:26:54.119 independence. It's a formidable platform in a 00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:56.299 state like South Dakota. Yeah. And frankly, it's 00:26:56.299 --> 00:26:58.299 a platform that is very hard for an opponent 00:26:58.299 --> 00:27:00.819 to attack. Yeah. How do you run negative ads 00:27:00.819 --> 00:27:03.440 attacking a guy for being too competent? Or for 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.339 reading the bills too closely. You really can't. 00:27:06.359 --> 00:27:08.559 So what does this all mean for you, the listener? 00:27:08.759 --> 00:27:11.039 Let's wrap this up. We started by calling him 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:13.400 a pragmatic maverick. And I think that title 00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:15.599 holds up entirely after going through the evidence. 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:19.460 Dusty Johnson is a study in contrasts. He's a 00:27:19.460 --> 00:27:21.759 Phi Delta Theta fraternity member who became 00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:24.259 a Truman scholar. He's a guy who rides with the 00:27:24.259 --> 00:27:27.259 motorcycle caucus, but nerds out on antitrust 00:27:27.259 --> 00:27:30.200 filing fees. He's a Republican who survived the 00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:33.200 Trump era while voting for the January 6th commission, 00:27:33.380 --> 00:27:36.519 but then votes against federal marriage codification 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:39.759 on strict federalist grounds. It's a highly complex 00:27:39.759 --> 00:27:42.059 picture. And maybe that is exactly the point. 00:27:42.200 --> 00:27:45.200 We get so used to politicians being flat, two 00:27:45.200 --> 00:27:47.680 -dimensional caricature. E -cable news talking 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:50.559 points. Right. But Dusty Johnson feels three 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:53.059 -dimensional. He does. And as he moves toward 00:27:53.059 --> 00:27:56.339 the governorship in 2026, it raises a really 00:27:56.339 --> 00:27:58.299 provocative question for the rest of the country. 00:27:58.339 --> 00:28:00.660 What's the question? In an era of performative 00:28:00.660 --> 00:28:03.039 politics where it often feels like the loudest, 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:06.319 most outrageous voice always wins, Johnson is 00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:09.619 betting his entire career on boring competence 00:28:09.619 --> 00:28:12.559 and specific nuanced constitutional stances. 00:28:12.740 --> 00:28:15.039 He is betting that voters actually do want nuance. 00:28:15.119 --> 00:28:17.279 Exactly. He's betting that the exhausted majority 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:19.619 we always hear about is real and actually votes. 00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:21.740 So does he? Did this success prove that voters 00:28:21.740 --> 00:28:24.119 are genuinely hungry for this kind of leadership? 00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:27.619 Or is Dusty Johnson's specific brand of popularity 00:28:27.619 --> 00:28:30.240 just a unique quirk of South Dakota politics 00:28:30.240 --> 00:28:32.359 that simply can't be replicated anywhere else? 00:28:32.900 --> 00:28:36.180 That is the big question to mull over as 2026 00:28:36.180 --> 00:28:38.740 approaches. It really is. If you want to dive 00:28:38.740 --> 00:28:40.960 deeper into this specific brand of politics, 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:42.700 I'd encourage you to look up the Problem Solvers 00:28:42.700 --> 00:28:45.079 Caucus Roll Calls and see who else is trying 00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:47.779 to make that institutionalist brand work in today's 00:28:47.779 --> 00:28:50.299 climate. It's a fascinating group to watch. Absolutely. 00:28:50.740 --> 00:28:52.660 Well, that is the story of Dusty Johnson. Thanks 00:28:52.660 --> 00:28:54.119 for joining us on this deep dive. We'll catch 00:28:54.119 --> 00:28:54.539 you next time.