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Q&A: Thune says Republicans can hold their majority — if they stop fighting each other

Q&A: Thune says Republicans can hold their majority — if they stop fighting each other

by Makenzie Huber

SIOUX FALLS — U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s Republican Party faces midterm elections amid economic anxiety, high gas prices and a war with Iran.  But Thune, of South Dakota, said the biggest threat to the party’s Senate majority might be Republicans themselves. Thune told South Dakota Searchlight and other journalists Friday during an event […]

Southeast Tech and Thune honor late US senator with $18 million manufacturing building

by Makenzie Huber

SIOUX FALLS — Southeast Technical College’s newest building will train welders and machinists — and carry the name of a South Dakota politician who spent his career championing rural workforce development. Local, state and federal officials gathered Friday for the groundbreaking of the $18 million James Abdnor Center for Advanced Manufacturing in northwestern Sioux Falls. […]

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Ep. 29: SD House leader says ‘third camp’ of Republicans arose during primary to ‘trash the conservative leadership’

by Meghan O’Brien

After a bruising South Dakota primary season in which 16 incumbent Republican legislators lost and four Republicans battled for the governor nomination, the party is at a crossroads. South Dakota’s House Majority Leader Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, was voted by his peers into his leadership position in 2024, after major turnover in the lawmaking body that year. Odenbach spoke with Searchlight Reporter Joshua Haiar about what this year’s primary results mean for the party and the state.

Odenbach also responded to a recent Searchlight Report episode featuring Republican political commentator Pat Powers of the South Dakota War College blog, in which Powers said the populist movement in the Republican Party is in decline.

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FROM STATES NEWSROOM

Congressional approval not needed for White House ballroom, Trump tells high court

Congressional approval not needed for White House ballroom, Trump tells high court

by Ashley Murray

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to intervene in a lower court decision that halts his $400 million White House ballroom construction unless he receives authorization from Congress. The administration requested the justices grant an immediate stay to a 2-1 federal appeals court decision that sided with historic preservationists who argued Trump […]
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