PIERRE, S.D.(SDBA) – Sen. Jim Mehlhaff’s original effort to allow the governor to pick their lieutenant governor without input from a partisan convention was hijacked by Senate leadership.

When they asked him to relinquish his prime sponsorship of the bill, he declined.

That decision paid off Friday, as Mehlhaff was successful in steering the bill he now opposed into an iceberg.  His original bill removed lieutenant governor nominations from political party conventions, allowing candidates for governor to pick their running mates.

But his bill was amended by Senate President Pro Tempore Lee Schoenbeck in the Senate State Affairs Committee to also remove attorney general and secretary of state candidates from conventions, putting them instead on a primary ballot.

While Schoenbeck and other supporters argue that a primary election puts the decision in the hands of voters rather than a narrow section of political party delegates, it is a divisive issue in the GOP – having already failed several times in the House – and Mehlhaff wanted no part of that.

Mehlhaff introduced the bill on Tuesday during its debate on the Senate floor and quickly called for it to be tabled. He failed there, as the Senate voted to disregard his motion and eventually adopt Schoenbeck’s amended option.

But when it arrived at the House State Affairs Committee Friday, Committee Chairman Will Mortenson honored his district mate’s request to table.

The House has been stalwart in halting efforts to alter the convention, two separate attempts have come up short this year, as did another one late last session. When the 2023 bill was amended by the House to cover just the lieutenant governor, the Senate killed it.

Following the decision to table the bill, Mehlhaff said he was happy with the outcome.  “I’m glad the committee made this move, because it would have been another floor battle they didn’t need,” he said, referring to the House battles that have already occurred on the issue.