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Darla Drew
Darla Drew (Democratic Party) ran for election to the South Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 34. Drew lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Drew completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2022
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 34 (2 seats)
Incumbent Mike Derby and incumbent Jess Olson defeated Darla Drew and Jay C. Shultz in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 34 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mike Derby (R) | 32.8 | 6,350 |
| ✔ |  | Jess Olson (R) | 30.3 | 5,869 |
 | Darla Drew (D)  | 21.4 | 4,149 | |
| Jay C. Shultz (D) | 15.5 | 3,000 | ||
| Total votes: 19,368 | |||
| = 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. Darla Drew and Jay C. Shultz advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 34.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 34 (2 seats)
Incumbent Mike Derby and incumbent Jess Olson defeated Jodie Frye in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 34 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Derby | 40.9 | 2,833 |
| ✔ | | Jess Olson | 33.2 | 2,298 |
| Jodie Frye | 25.8 | 1,788 | ||
| Total votes: 6,919 | |||
| = 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
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Darla Drew completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Drew's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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My husband, Don Lerdal, and I raised our family in Rapid City. Our children, Drew and Mattie, their spouses, and grandsons live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
My goal is always to leave a place better than I found it. That would be an improvement over the way things have been going lately. I don't play identity politics and I'm not a participant in the culture wars. Those aren’t productive.
I'm focused on building a stronger economy, protecting our quality of life, improving our schools, and trying to make the government more responsive and efficient by working on the real problems of South Dakota
I support legislation that makes Western South Dakota a great place to live and raise a family is a priority. I am not the only mother or grandmother who wishes we could find more ways to keep our kids in the Black Hills.- Medicaid Expansion - South Dakota is one of 12 states in the US to refuse this incredible health bonus for our citizens.
- Care For Seniors - South Dakota has had a 30-year moratorium on building new nursing homes. Why? This leaves our seniors and their families with unsustainable and expensive care.
- Real Leadership - I have eight years of experience on Rapid City Council, re-elected three times. I want to set the tone for a moderate type of government in South Dakota.
This coverage is not just important for low-income people, plenty of middle-income people need health insurance relief too.
Early Education - I have worked on early education issues in Rapid City and am proud of the work done by the City Council to strengthen under-resourced children with Early Education. The current legislators have been silent on this growing problem for South Dakota. I put my money where my mouth is on this issue. The Readiatrics Book Drive I created and organize has collected 180,000 new and gently used books to put into the hands of young Western Dakota children since 2001. The children take the books home to build literacy with their families.
As a young person experiencing that much devastation was very traumatic. There were no psychiatric teams who came in to help any of our citizens, some who had lost everything including family members. We got tetanus shots and clean water in jugs. It was a summer of sadness followed by joy when one of my friends or acquaintances was found alive. We all just had to deal with the loss of so many people and the destruction of our town the best way we could.
My Dad was in the National Guard and in the Communications Center that night and said, "all hell broke loose, and the big brass showed up". Dad was a Major at the time, and he was in charge of getting every Guardsman in the state to Rapid City. He was also told to find 200 body bags by morning. Luckily, we are closed to Ellsworth Air Force Base and Dad was able to get the body bags flown into the base by 6am.
I volunteered with my mother and other National Guard Officers wives to distribute clothing through "Save the Children" to the folks who lost everything, including clothes and shoes.
I believe this experience was the inspiration for my community service. I was always part of Rapid City committees and boards before I was elected to the City Council.
I started a band booking agency in 1979 when I was 22 and I ran that business for 25 years.
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.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
