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Melanie Torno
Melanie Torno (Republican Party) ran for election to the South Dakota House of Representatives to represent District 33. She lost in the Republican primary on June 2, 2020.
Torno completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Melanie Torno attended Black Hills State University for undergraduate study and she attended South Dakota State University for graduate study. Torno's career experience includes working as a licensed mental health therapist, mediator, parent coordinator, and custody evaluator.[1]
Elections
2020
See also: South Dakota House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 (2 seats)
Phil Jensen and incumbent Taffy Howard won election in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Phil Jensen (R) | 56.5 | 10,251 |
| ✔ |  | Taffy Howard (R) | 43.5 | 7,902 |
| Total votes: 18,153 | |||
 = 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 33 (2 seats)
Incumbent Taffy Howard and Phil Jensen defeated Melanie Torno in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Taffy Howard | 42.0 | 2,831 |
| ✔ | | Phil Jensen | 34.0 | 2,297 |
 | Melanie Torno | 24.0 | 1,620 | |
| Total votes: 6,748 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
2018
General election
General election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 (2 seats)
Incumbent David Johnson and incumbent Taffy Howard defeated Lilias Jarding and Nick Reid in the general election for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | David Johnson (R) | 34.6 | 6,094 |
| ✔ | | Taffy Howard (R) | 32.2 | 5,662 |
| Lilias Jarding (D) | 20.1 | 3,537 | ||
 | Nick Reid (Independent) | 13.2 | 2,316 | |
| Total votes: 17,609 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Ian Keegan (D)
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 (2 seats)
Lilias Jarding and Ian Keegan advanced from the Democratic primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Lilias Jarding | |
| ✔ | Ian Keegan | |
| ||||
| = 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 33 (2 seats)
Incumbent David Johnson and incumbent Taffy Howard defeated Melanie Torno in the Republican primary for South Dakota House of Representatives District 33 on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David Johnson | 39.5 | 2,215 |
| ✔ | | Taffy Howard | 38.9 | 2,183 |
| Melanie Torno | 21.6 | 1,212 | |
| Total votes: 5,610 | |||
| = 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
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Melanie Torno completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Torno's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Melanie Torno is a licensed mental health therapist in private practice, as well as a divorce and custody evaluator, mediator, and parent coordinator. She specializes in trauma, PTSD, blended families, play therapy with children, and relationship issues for couples, families, and parent-child relationships. Melanie and her husband, Gerard, have also ventured into commercial property ownership and management.
Last but not least, Melanie is honored to be a wife and mother of five in a blended family with children ranging in age from 22 to 7 years old. She is blessed to be the mimi of three beautiful grandchildren. She is inspired and motivated to make a positive impact in South Dakota for her children and for future generations.
- As a mental health therapist, I am committed to address the increase of mental health concerns in our state. I am passionate to improve accessibility to mental health services and to address the increase of suicide rates, as well as to support suicide prevention efforts. I am on the front lines as a therapist and can make difficult and sound decisions to better serve the needs of our South Dakotan children and families.
- As a small business owner, I am driven to continue to move our economy in an upward direction. With the current concerns and issues we are facing, we need a Strong Voice to continue to support economic development and job creation. We need to continue to stimulate the economy with more business opportunities, while protecting new and existing small businesses.
- As a Christian and a mother of five, I understand the need for strong family values. I will continue to be a Strong Voice for unborn baby protection, future generation education, and traditional family values. Our children today are facing many challenges that previous generations did not encounter, and it is evident in the current social issues we are witnessing. I will continue to protect South Dakota's strong family values to help our children have a bright and positive future in our great state.
We have a great opportunity for a new choice for the District 33 House of Representatives. I am an effective community leader, mentor, and advocate with excellent communication skills and the ability to make difficult decisions. I would be deeply honored to represent the amazing people in District 33 to make positive changes for a brighter tomorrow.
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
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 18, 2020
