WATERTOWN, S.D. (KELO) — Around 30 demonstrators made clear Thursday they’re not happy at the moment with the man who has carved out one of South Dakota’s most prolific political careers in Washington.
“I would like to see John Thune speak for everyone and not just go along with his party, and I would like him to make sure that we have consensus-building going on,” Toni Popham of Florence, S.D. said as she stood outside where Thune spoke.
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“John, as the head of the Senate, needs to take a step back and say, you’re not a puppet to Trump, you are here to work for the citizens of especially South Dakota, ’cause that’s where he’s from,” said Kay Solberg of Watertown, who like Popham was among the demonstrators Thursday.
Solberg tells KELOLAND News she helped organize the protest. Video recording wasn’t allowed during the meeting in Watertown with a rotary club where Thune spoke, but the senator did talk with KELOLAND News afterward. On the topic of tariffs and cuts to federal spending which may concern South Dakotans, Thune asks for patience.
“I think in the end, you have to sort of wait and see what the final result looks like,” Thune said. “But I understand people’s concern, and I think they have every right to make those, their voices heard.”
And Thune says the demands of the day require him to consider many more voices than just his own.
“I have to try my best to make sure that we’ve got all, the other 52 Republicans rolling in the same direction,” Thune said. “And then in some circumstances where we need bipartisan support, the Democrats as well, and so the job I have right now is really one that requires collaboration, requires consensus.”
The often bitter frustration with another person, whether it plays out on social media, in the halls of Congress or outside an Elks Lodge in Watertown, is a hallmark of American politics in 2025. And Thune says he isn’t inclined to publicly air his own grievances.
“I try as best I can, when I have to convey my, if I’ve got concerns or thoughts about something, to litigate that with the individual or if it’s a, the administration, it’s a position, if it’s a secretary or something, to have that conversation directly,” Thune said.
When Thune exited the venue where he had spoken to the rotary club, demonstrators outside chanted “we want a town hall.”
