PROJECT 2026 

The state of politics and government in South Dakota is dismal. South Dakota’s scarlet government spends time railing against drag shows while property taxes explode. They favor large corporate farms over hard-working South Dakota citizens. They ignore voters. They want to spend a billion dollars on a new prison, while refusing to examine the reason for prison overpopulation – draconian marijuana laws. We don’t have to tell you about all the problems. You already know. 

We need to do something about this problem and here is one of the tools we can use to create a wedge between a big share of people who automatically vote Republican and those Republicans they vote for.  In essence, we want to illustrate the fact that the way they voted – Republican – is the cause of their pain. We want to help people understand that on most issues, the Republican party’s values (or a candidate’s values) are not the voters’ values. 

The Project 2026 Plan 

The plan is very, very simple. And it’s easy. And for most participants, it’s as easy as just clicking a Share button on your Facebook page. We can use this method to get a message spread far and wide in a very short amount of time. And the way we use the platform will allow us to get these messages in front of the people we want to see them. 

We are all Change Agents in the fight against harmful Republican policies. Here’s how it breaks down. 

Change Leader – this person recruits at least ten people in their Facebook Friends list. Obviously each platoon can have many more – and that is highly encouraged.  When we say recruit, we mean contacting at least ten of your Facebook friends and ask them to share Turn SD Purples posts on their page when it shows up on the Platoon Leader’s page. 

Change Agent – This person shares the daily message on their Facebook page. It’s really that simple and only takes a moment. We also encourage the Social Media Warriors to recruit other warriors and become Platoon Leaders. We need to have people sharing the daily messages on their own Facebook pages. 

The Process – It’s Super Simple 

Turn SD Purple will post a message – the goal is a message every single day up to the 2026 election. Where do we get the messages?  There are plenty of sources. We can post up general issue messages and that will be the base of our operations. But we also intend to act on Republican legislators in each legislative district when the legislature is in session. We can make individual messages on individual legislators to point out that their values are not ours. The messages come from you!  What are your concerns? Let’s let South Dakota voters understand that their automatic Republican vote is the root cause of many of their problems.

Here is an example: Let’s say there is a vote on a bill that is controversial – it can be land issue, social issue, any issue that a legislator votes on.  We then take that legislator’s vote and their picture and let the people in that particular district understand that the legislator we’re highlighting perhaps doesn’t share the same values as the person looking at the art. 

We are going to try to not be judgmental or critical when we post up general information messages.

Our goal is to make somebody who automatically votes Republican question if their values align with what’s going on. To question if the Republican legislator they voted for shares the same values on various issues.

When it pertains to highlighting individual legislators’ actions, words and votes, we can get a little more personal, but we must remember in our comments that the goal is to get people who voted for them to question their decision. If we inflame the situation, the mind we want to challenge may become even more closed. 

This is a long-game project that will work if we just have enough energy to hit the Share button on our Facebook pages. 

Proposed Structure 

Turn SD Purple – this site is designed to be the repository for information that can help.  We will generate content – or share your content – so we can get the right messaging out there. 

County Democratic Parties – are our initial Change Leaders.  Through the county party sites, we can recruit Change Agents. 

Influencers – We have some fantastic influencers in South Dakota and we are working as hard as we can to convert them into Change Leaders. 

Change Leaders – These are people who have had a minimum of ten of their Facebook friends agree to share Turn SD Purple posts on their own pages. This takes only a moment a day and is the foundation of our project.  

The Process – Organization 

Turn SD Purple will post up a panel, video or other information piece. 

That post will show up on your Facebook timeline because you are either following or liking the Turn SD Purple page. 

You will share that post to your Facebook page. 

Your Change Leaders and Agents will share your shared post on their Facebook pages. 

The Change Agents’ friends will be asked to share the post on their own pages. 

And on and on and on….. 

Let’s Do This!