South Dakota Forward chair speaks at forum

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HURON – Established as a resistance movement the day after the November election, South Dakota Forward is a growing, nonpartisan organization of progressive, like-minded thinkers, a member from Pierre said Thursday.
Amanda Thronson, a young mother of two children, a school teacher and chair of the Hughes County Democratic Party, said for the next year and a half the group will work to recruit and elect legislators and statewide office seekers whether they are Democrats or not.
“We are willing to support any candidate that shares our values,” she said at the District 22 Democratic Forum.
With its Facebook page and website, South Dakota Forward is attracting more and more people from around the state and even out of state, she said.
“It’s a place to discuss, without judgment and to receive support, with a whole host of people,” Thronson said.
“This group, in the few short months that we have existed, we have organized marches and meetings and sent letters to the editor and made phone calls and sent emails to state legislators and members of Congress,” she said.
One of its main goals is to never see another race in South Dakota where only Republican candidates are on the ballot.
“From school boards to governor, we want to make sure we’ve got somebody going against the establishment in every single race,” Thronson said.
Along with its public Facebook page, South Dakota Forward has also created a secret one.
“We are keeping the private group private because there are some people who have jobs that don’t allow them to be out of the closet as Democrats,” she said.
But while they are registered Republicans, they support Democrat candidates, she said.

Every Sunday night, a group of South Dakota Forward members gathers outside the federal building in Pierre to voice their opposition to an issue.
“It’s on the main drag and we just stay quietly on the sidewalk with our candles and our signs and do our little protest,” Thronson said.
A few weeks ago, they protested the House Republican vote on health care.
“We had people honking, and it’s nice to see the support from the community,” she said.
This Sunday, they will shine a light on the Russia-Trump campaign investigation.
On a cold January day when she was expecting 25 and hoping for 50 to show up, three times that many marched in Pierre in support of women’s issues.
But in the November election in Hughes County, legislative races featured all Republican candidates running unopposed.
Within a short time, candidates began coming forward for the 2018 election, Thronson said.
South Dakota Forward wants to bring traditional South Dakota values back, she said.
Support for families, fiscal responsibility and education are priorities.
It was discouraging when efforts by Senate Democrats Billie Sutton of Burke and Troy Heinert of Mission to fully fund pre-kindergarten education were shot down by the super Republican majority, she said.
“You cannot claim that you are the party of family values and vote for nothing that helps support families, and so we have to make people – whoever you are – realize who has the better message, who has the best values,” Thronson said.