Monae Johnson, the Republican secretary of state South Dakota's own party rejected in June, crossed the aisle Saturday to endorse Democratic nominee Terrence Davis, drawing swift condemnation from GOP leaders who call it a betrayal of the voters who ousted her.
Johnson released a written statement, obtained by Dakota News Now, saying she believes Davis "is the candidate best prepared to protect the office and serve South Dakota with seriousness, steadiness, and integrity." She urged voters of every party to "look beyond the letter beside a candidate's name" and back the Democrat over Republican nominee Heather Baxter, the state representative who defeated Johnson at the GOP convention three months earlier.
The endorsement lands in a state where President Trump won 63 percent of the vote in 2024, a state where handing the office that oversees elections to a Democrat would be, in the words of South Dakota House Speaker Jon Hansen, a "huge mistake."
Johnson's break did not come out of nowhere. At the June Republican convention, delegates chose Baxter over the incumbent by a margin of roughly 59 percent to 40 percent, according to Ballotpedia. It was a decisive repudiation. Johnson had spent more than a decade in the secretary of state's office, but the party's grassroots wanted a different direction.
Rather than accept that verdict and rally behind the nominee, Johnson waited until September and threw her weight behind the opposing party's candidate. The move fits a pattern that has become familiar in American politics: an officeholder who loses a primary or convention and then works to undermine the winner. Cross-party endorsements after intraparty defeats are rare enough to make headlines. In a deep-red state like South Dakota, this one carries an extra charge, because the office in question runs the state's elections.
Baxter told the Daily Caller News Foundation she was "not particularly" surprised by Johnson's decision. Her response was pointed:
"Secretary Johnson and I disagreed on the direction of this office, that's exactly why Republican delegates overwhelmingly chose a change in June."
Baxter went further, framing the endorsement as confirmation of a deeper problem inside South Dakota Republican politics. She alleged that "pseudo Republicans have long infiltrated the party, changing their voter registrations from Democrat to Republican," and declared that "South Dakota's illusion of ruby red is being exposed."
Cross-party maneuvers have become a recurring theme in American politics well beyond South Dakota. Sen. John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania Democrat, has repeatedly broken with his own party, most visibly when he appeared at a Republican convention and pledged to "stand with America" alongside a GOP colleague. But Fetterman's crossovers move from left to right. Johnson's endorsement moves in the opposite direction, a Republican steering voters toward a Democrat, and that distinction matters.
Speaker Hansen, who leads the Republican-controlled South Dakota House, posted his response on X within hours of Johnson's announcement. He did not hold back:
"South Dakota Republican Secretary of State, after being defeated at the Republican party convention in her reelection bid, is endorsing the Democrat candidate. Huge mistake! Do NOT hand our elections over to the Democrats! Vote REPUBLICAN Heather Baxter for Secretary of State!"
Hansen's alarm reflects a basic concern shared by Republican voters nationwide: the secretary of state's office administers elections. In an era when election integrity is a top-tier issue for the right, the idea of a Democrat running that machinery in one of the country's most Republican-leaning states is not a small matter. It is the kind of outcome that only becomes possible when a sore loser from the same party opens the door.
Baxter herself, in a statement to POLITICO, framed the convention result as the system working exactly as designed. She noted that Republican delegates "considered the record and nominated me over incumbent Secretary of State Monae Johnson, 59 percent to 41 percent." Her campaign website emphasizes election integrity, the very issue that makes this race sensitive.
Fetterman's own complicated relationship with party loyalty offers a useful contrast. Even as he has met with Republican-aligned media figures and broken with progressive orthodoxy on multiple fronts, he has also shown he knows where his limits are, refusing to back certain nominees despite his crossover reputation. Johnson, by contrast, appears to have no such limits. She lost her party's endorsement and responded by endorsing the opposition.
Davis, the Democratic nominee, posted his thanks on Facebook Saturday. He leaned into the bipartisan framing:
"I am deeply grateful to have the support of South Dakota Secretary of State Monae Johnson. Monae and I come from different political parties. We will not agree on every issue. That is exactly why her confidence in me means so much."
Neither Johnson's office nor the Davis campaign responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation's requests for comment beyond what was already public. That silence leaves several questions unanswered. What specific policy disagreements drove the rift between Johnson and Baxter? What is Davis's professional background or prior experience in election administration? And what, exactly, would change about South Dakota's elections under a Democratic secretary of state?
The race also includes Libertarian nominee Tamara Lesnar, though her positions and response to Johnson's endorsement were not part of the available reporting. The general election is set for November 3, 2026.
Cross-party voting and defections are not unique to statewide races. In Congress, members have crossed the aisle on major legislation, including a recent defense spending bill where thirteen members broke with their parties on a $1.15 trillion measure. But there is a difference between voting your conscience on a policy bill and actively campaigning for the other party's nominee after your own voters told you no.
Baxter offered perhaps the sharpest framing of the episode when the Daily Caller News Foundation asked what Johnson's endorsement might signal to campaigns beyond South Dakota. She called it "a real dynamic to note: an outgoing officeholder crossing party lines to back the opposing party's nominee, in a race where their own party ousted them in a primary/convention, is a notable 'sore loser or good-faith institutionalist.'"
Johnson's own statement offered little to settle that question. She cited her decade-plus in the office and asked voters to judge candidates on "record and temperament." But she did not identify a single policy difference with Baxter, a single failing in Baxter's qualifications, or a single reason beyond vague appeals to "seriousness" and "integrity" that a Democrat would better serve a state that votes Republican by wide margins.
In a statement to POLITICO, Baxter put it plainly: "The letter beside a name is not decoration. It tells voters what governing philosophy they will carry into the office that runs our elections and business services."
That is the core of the matter. Johnson lost. The party moved on. And instead of stepping aside gracefully, she decided to make the Democrat's case for him. South Dakota voters will get the final word on November 3, and they will know exactly who helped put a Democrat on the ballot for an office that oversees their elections.
When the party tells you no and you respond by endorsing the other side, you have not risen above partisanship. You have just picked a different party.