Catching up with District 14 House candidates

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The 2024 campaign has reached its home stretch, and candidates only have a few more days to convince voters to support them.

Keith Block, Tony Kayser, B.J. Motley and Taylor Rehfeldt are running for District 14’s two spots in South Dakota’s House of Representatives in Pierre. And as far as the state’s 35 districts go, 14 in southeast Sioux Falls is easily one of the geographically smallest districts; just a short walk here might provide a candidate with several chances to quickly interact with voters in person.

“I’m very fortunate,” Kayser said. “I have a lot of people I know that give me the right to have their signs in their front yard. So signage, the ground game. Knocking on doors is the big one. Minimal advertising.”

“We also do a lot of walking around, door knocking, talking to people every chance we get to see what they think about the election and how’s it going,” Motley said. “Just getting an idea, a feel.”

Motley and Block are Democrats, while Kayser and Rehfeldt are Republicans. All four have spent time knocking on doors.

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“Part of the reason that going door-to-door is so fulfilling is because you get to hear from people that actually what they care about, and people are really receptive when you’re actually showing up face-to-face and having a conversation,” Rehfeldt said.

But it’s not all done in person.

“We do a lot of phone banking, like on Tuesdays and Thursdays we have, go down and call certain people,” Motley said.

“We’re doing a lot of Facebook posts, a lot of social media,” Block said. “We’re going to be doing some phone calls in the next few days.”

While Rehfeldt is running for reelection, Block, Motley and Kayser would all be serving in the state legislature for the first time if they are elected.

“There’s a lot of people of all stripes,” Block said. “They’re kind of looking for changes, and so that’s kind of the way I find myself in a conversation with even full Trump Republicans, about ‘Hey, how are we going to get stuff done at the local level.'”

“I have been invited into houses before, and I do enjoy that,” Rehfeldt said. “People then have a more open conversation.”

“Once you’re out there, it’s been a great experience,” Kayser said. “I’ve enjoyed the process a lot.”

Kayser is a financial planner, Motley is a union representative, Block is a social worker and Rehfeldt is a nurse.