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BJ Motley
BJ Motley (Democratic Party) ran for election to the South Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 14. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Elections
2024
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 14 (2 seats)
Incumbent Taylor Rae Rehfeldt and Tony Kayser defeated Keith Block and BJ Motley in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 14 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Taylor Rae Rehfeldt (R) | 33.4 | 7,833 |
| ✔ |  | Tony Kayser (R) | 27.2 | 6,389 |
 | Keith Block (D) | 21.3 | 4,991 | |
 | BJ Motley (D) | 18.1 | 4,253 | |
| Total votes: 23,466 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Keith Block and BJ Motley advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 14.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 14 (2 seats)
Incumbent Taylor Rae Rehfeldt and Tony Kayser defeated incumbent Tyler Tordsen in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 14 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Taylor Rae Rehfeldt | 38.9 | 1,205 |
| ✔ | | Tony Kayser | 35.2 | 1,091 |
 | Tyler Tordsen | 26.0 | 805 | |
| Total votes: 3,101 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Motley in this election.
2018
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 25 (2 seats)
Jon Hansen and incumbent Tom Pischke defeated incumbent Dan Ahlers and BJ Motley in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 25 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jon Hansen (R) | 32.0 | 5,982 |
| ✔ |  | Tom Pischke (R) | 28.2 | 5,272 |
 | Dan Ahlers (D) | 27.7 | 5,174 | |
| BJ Motley (D) | 12.1 | 2,266 | |
| Total votes: 18,694 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 25 (2 seats)
Incumbent Dan Ahlers and BJ Motley advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 25 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Dan Ahlers |
| ✔ | | BJ Motley |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 25 (2 seats)
Jon Hansen and incumbent Tom Pischke defeated Tamera Enalls in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 25 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jon Hansen | 41.7 | 1,450 |
| ✔ | | Tom Pischke | 36.7 | 1,277 |
| Tamera Enalls | 21.6 | 751 | ||
| Total votes: 3,478 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
BJ Motley did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
BJ Motley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Motley's responses.
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
Education, Living wage, and Affordable Healthcare
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Early Childhood Start Programs. Because early education is very vital in developing the minds of our children. When children are young, they are learning sponges. Every new experience, every word they learn, every behavior they adopt, is an investment in a more fruitful future.
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
My Mother, She always said treat others with respect and dignity and success will follow. Listen, Listen, Listen is the key to a positive future.
Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?
Gods Dream by Will Mancini and Bird Warren
What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?
A good listener and putting people first before party.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
I'm a good listener, I put people first, we are all different but we fight for the same reason to be able to give our families a good life. To learn from our mistakes and make sure we provide a better future for our next generation.
What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?
To make sure we do right by the people.
What legacy would you like to leave?
That I made a difference in making someone's life better.
What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?
Watching snow fall in Florida, I was 11 years old
What was your very first job? How long did you have it?
Picking oranges in the Florida citrus groves. 16 years.
What happened on your most awkward date?
Actually never had a awkward date
What is your favorite holiday? Why?
Christmas, because seeing all the happiness and joy in people faces. the love, the joy. It just makes me feel at peace.
What is your favorite book? Why?
God Dreams by Warren Bird and Will Mancini. Because it gives you insight on how to become a leader. The ground rules in the development of not being selfish, to listen, focus and not be judgemental.
If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?
Vision
What is your favorite thing in your home or apartment? Why?
My Clocks, because I have a fascination of time.
What was the last song that got stuck in your head?
Temptations, My Girl
What is something that has been a struggle in your life?
Trying to get people to speak up when they feel helpless and mistreated
Every state besides Nebraska has two legislative chambers. What do you consider the most important differences between the legislative chambers in your state?
Trying to decide what's best for the people
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?
A little, but we also need new fresh ideas to initiate change.
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
The growing Diversity
What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and the state legislature?
Some what neutral
Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.
Yes, because we are all in this together. Though we might have different idea we still must do right for the purpose of making it better for families.
What process do you favor for redistricting?
Just to make it fair.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate South Dakota House of Representatives District 14 |
Personal |
Footnotes
