Noem attends town hall in Mobridge

MOBRIDGE, S.D. - Governor Kristi Noem attended a townhall in Mobridge Monday, and heard from constituents on a wide variety of issues.

Those who attended asked questions on national issues ranging from election security to border security.

Noem said she attempted to get other Republican governors to get on board with passing election security laws.

“I tried to get a bunch of Republican governors to go with me this year and do a bunch of election integrity bills, but Republicans didn’t want to,” Noem told the crowd.

Another issue that came up was “critical race theory” (CRT), and what Noem has done to restrict it in South Dakota. Noem said that she intends to sign an Executive Order Tuesday banning the teaching of critical race theory in public K-12 schools in South Dakota.

“They killed the K-12 bill, so I will be signing an executive order making sure critical race theory is not taught to our kids in public schools in South Dakota,” Noem said when asked by an audience member about what she was doing to restrict the teaching of CRT.

In addition to the more nationally focused questions, Noem also took far more local questions. Including concerns from locals about funding for county jails and roads.

In particular, Noem spoke about funding for Lake Hiddenwood State Park near Selby, which was closed by a dam break several years ago.

“That was life changing when that dam blew from the flooding that we had, and I know that has been a big topic of debate up here,” Noem said. “There has been a lot of debate about repairs and such, even in the local community here I know that there has been a lot of debate about repairs and such. Even in the local community, I know it has been debated about how to go forward.”

Noem has periodically held town halls throughout her statewide political career, and her office says that while they plan to hold more in the near future, none are currently scheduled.