HURON – Alexandra Frederick is asking voters to support her campaign for secretary of state because in that office she said she would represent all of South Dakota and make the government work for everyone.
Since her nomination at the Democratic Party convention in June, she has logged more than 10,000 miles.
“I’ve been to every corner and seen that everybody has the same issues,” Frederick said at the District 22 Democratic Forum on Thursday.
“They have the same wants from the government that they’re not getting now, but everybody’s kind of afraid to speak up because the people in power now have the money, they have the control,” she said.
“And so that keeps me going, thinking, OK, we can change things, we can make it better, we can make this a South Dakota that represents everybody, not just the select few.”
Frederick and her husband, Wayne – the Democratic candidate for the Public Utilities Commission – operate the oldest ranch in Todd County. She is a graduate of Sinte Gleska University, with bachelor’s degrees in history, science and Lakota Studies.
She said she is working hard to encourage more people from all areas of South Dakota to vote in the November election.
Voting practices are not always fair, she said. Members of her family, living in the same house, were told once when they went to vote that some of them had to vote at a different precinct that was many miles away.
She is promoting the candidacy of her husband as well, saying the PUC is very important to consumers.
“Driving up here, there’s more and more wind turbines going up, but where is that electricity going?” she asked. “Are we seeing any of that?”

A majority of the power is going to Minnesota and Colorado, Frederick said. “They’re taking from us, and what do we get?”
She said her husband would be a true voice for all of South Dakota.
Frederick gets emotional when she talks about the impact of pipelines, one of which is just breaking ground near their ranch. “This is our home,” she said.
The Lakota woman said Native Americans have been dealing with the federal government overseeing them for a long time.
“We’re kind of tired of this,” she said. “We need to take this back and make it ours again.”
Frederick said building a future for her son is important to her. Like his parents, he also wants to ranch.
“What happens if he can’t?” she said. “What happens if the water’s gone?
“So that’s why we’re doing this,” Frederick said of their candidacies.
It’s a long shot for both of them in such a red state. “It’s hard to be a Democrat in South Dakota,” she said.
And she is depending on contributions from everyday South Dakotans to fund her campaign.
“I kind of got into this without plans, so it’s all been funded and gotten encouragement from people like you all when I go to places and you’ve all been so encouraging and so inspiring to keep going,” Frederick said.
On the days she’s tempted to stay home and “do normal things,” she remembers there are still weeks to go before Nov. 6.
“This isn’t just a sprint, it’s a marathon,” she said. “We’ve got to keep going.”

PHOTO BY ROGER LARSEN/PLAINSMAN
Democratic Secretary of State candidate Alexandra Frederick speaks at the District 22 Democratic forum Thursday.