Tamara Grove, senator-elect for District 26 in the South Dakota Legislature, poses at a Lower Brule community center in front of artwork by Dion Stands and Looks Back. (submitted photo)
Some of South Dakota’s tribal areas have long been considered Democratic strongholds so reliable that some GOP political observers had written some seats off as all but unwinnable.
Democrats lose ground in Legislature, but pick up seat in longtime Republican district
But Democratic seats in those communities are no longer a given. District 26, which includes parts of the Lower Brule, Crow Creek and Rosebud Sioux reservations, voted Tuesday to send a Republican to the state Senate for the first time in more than a decade.
Tamara Grove of Lower Brule beat incumbent Democratic Sen. Shawn Bordeaux of Mission on Tuesday night, with an unofficial tally of 57%-43%. Bordeaux has been a lawmaker for 10 years.
The last Republican senator to serve in District 26 was John Koskan, who served as Assistant Majority Leader in his final term in 2006.