Joe Kirby, head of South Dakota Open Primaries, signs a petition on April 19, 2023, in Sioux Falls that aims to allow all voters to cast a vote in the state’s primary elections. Kirby is seated next to De Knudson of Sioux Falls, with Tom Dempster of Sioux Falls standing to her left. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
An ongoing effort to create open primary elections received some big contributions from South Dakotans in 2023, and also received a little more than half of its donations from a Colorado-based political action committee funded in large part by a Georgia billionaire, according to recently filed campaign finance reports.
“Our open primaries effort in South Dakota has caught the attention of many groups nationally,” said Joe Kirby, a leader of the open primaries effort, in an emailed statement.
The Colorado PAC is Unite America. It raised $3.67 million in 2023, according to its federal campaign finance reports . Its biggest contributor was Arthur Blank, co-founder of the Home Depot and owner of the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, who gave the group $1 million. That was one of seven individual contributions of $200,000 or more that Unite America received last year.