Republican who oversees South Dakota's elections endorses a Democrat in the race to succeed her

Read the original at Toronto Star ↗
Toronto Star · collected 2026-09-22 · by Sarah Raza

Quick Summary

South Dakota's Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson has endorsed the Democratic candidate for her position instead of supporting Heather Baxter, who won the state GOP convention nomination. Johnson cites concerns about the office’s integrity and stability due to Baxter’s alignment with President Trump on voting issues like inaccurate voter rolls and mail-in ballots. Baxter’s campaign previously advocated for hand-counting ballots over using voting machines, a stance often linked to conspiracy theories about election rigging.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-22, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

In SIOUX FALLS, S.D., South Dakota’s Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson endorsed the Democratic nominee Terrence Davis for her own position after losing the GOP nomination to state lawmaker Heather Baxter at the June state convention. Johnson stated that she made this decision because "the integrity, stability, and professionalism of this office is at stake." Baxter aligns with President Donald Trump on issues like voter roll accuracy and concerns over electronic voting machines. The Republican incumbent’s endorsement reflects growing divisions within the party regarding election security and trust in democratic processes.

Written for “Republican Endorses Democrat In Elect…” on 2026-10-14, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Republican Endorses Democrat In Elect…
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Outraged South Dakota GOP official breaks ranks to stop Trump-backed election skeptic same event · 100%
The Independent · 0.93 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 9% hedged 2 of 23 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe South Dakota's Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson endorsing the Democratic candidate in the race to succeed her, citing concerns about the integrity and professionalism of the office.”

Cite this article

Raza, S. (2026, September 22). Republican who oversees South Dakota's elections endorses a Democrat in the race to succeed her. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/news/world/united-states/republican-who-oversees-south-dakota-s-elections-endorses-a-democrat-in-the-race-to-succeed-her/article_2f656d25-f753-548c-b877-4fa223ec3e9d.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
3
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 3 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
63/100
Toronto Star's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-22 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

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Who wrote this

Sarah Raza
4 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
🔮 Johnson's office indicated she would not comment beyond her written statement.
2026-09-22 · assertive framing · Outraged South Dakota GOP official breaks ranks to stop Trump-backed election skeptic
🔮 Election administrators say they’re prepared and confident the vote will be accurate and secure.
2026-09-18 · assertive framing · Early voting begins in US midterm elections that could flip control of Congress
🔮 "What I always come back to is whether or not this money could be better utilized by tribes themselves," Deer said.
2026-09-17 · assertive framing · Native American family’s desperate search for missing uncle exposes federal failures
Also by Sarah Raza
Outraged South Dakota GOP official breaks ranks to stop Trump-backed election skeptic
2026-09-22 · The Independent
Early voting begins in US midterm elections that could flip control of Congress
2026-09-18 · Toronto Star
Native American family’s desperate search for missing uncle exposes federal failures
2026-09-17 · The Independent
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Democrat Republican S.D. SIOUX FALLS South Dakota’s

Subjects

Democrat NORP · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× GOP ORG · 1× Heather Baxter PERSON · 1× Monae Johnson PERSON · 1× Republican NORP · 1× S.D. GPE · 1× SIOUX FALLS GPE · 1× South Dakota’s GPE · 1× State ORG · 1×

Narrative

Secretary of State Monae Johnson lost the nomination at the state GOP convention in June to Heather Baxter, a state lawmaker whose campaign website says she aligns with President Donald Trump and his concerns about “inaccurate voter rolls, mail in ballots, and voting machine issues.”
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-22
2026-09-22 · Toronto Star
Republican who oversees South Dakota's elections endorses a Democrat in the race to succeed her · assertive framing

Claims (3 extracted, 0 hedged)

South Dakota’s Republican secretary of state is breaking with her party and endorsing the Democrat running for the office, saying “the integrity, stability, and professionalism of this office is at stake.” asserted
integrity → break → stake
Secretary of State Monae Johnson lost the nomination at the state GOP convention in June to Heather Baxter, a state lawmaker whose campaign website says she aligns with President Donald Trump and his concerns about “inaccurate voter rolls, mail in ballots, and voting machine issues.” asserted
she → lose → rolls
A previous statement on Baxter’s website said she supported getting rid of voting machines in favor of hand-counting ballots, which has been a theme among those pushing conspiracy theories that voting and ballot counting machines can be rigged. asserted
machines → say → theories
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