South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is out of the state helping Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in a final push towards Election Day.
Noem, whose two terms as governor will be completed at the end of 2026, was on stage with Trump on Monday in a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is a swing state.
“I know that you all embrace being the City of Brotherly Love. But I am going to get real with you right here, Kamala Harris sucks. Right? She sucks,” Noem said to cheers.
Many polls are showing a tight race between Trump and Democrat Harris.
The Democratic team has announced that Nebraska native Governor Tim Walz will be making a stop in Omaha.
Walz is the vice presidential candidate of Democrat Harris, and the Walz stop in Omaha will be on Saturday, October 19. This is Walz’s second trip to the Cornhusker state this election season.
*In other election news, early voting in Iowa can begin on Wednesday. Registered voters can go to their county auditor’s office or any satellite location, fill out a form, and then get their ballot and vote in person.
Iowa county auditors also on Wednesday will begin mailing out absentee ballots to people who have requested them. Those ballots must be received in county auditor offices by the evening of Election Day, which is November 5.
Early voting in South Dakota began in September, and in Nebraska earlier in October.
*New polling suggests Nebraskans support both of two competing measures on abortion, and are against a plan to allow taxpayer funds to go to private schools.
The Midwest Newsroom partnered with Emerson College Polling to conduct surveys of registered voters in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska in late September.
The four polls included questions specific about issues that have become hallmarks of public discourse in the November 5 election.
It is an election quirk that two rival abortion initiatives appear on the ballot in Nebraska.
Voters will weigh in on one measure to expand abortion access, while the second would keep the 12-week limit. If both proposals are approved by a majority of voters, whichever receives the most votes will be adopted into the Nebraska constitution, according to a state law that dates to 1912.
*Sioux City Council members have approved entering into negotiations with a firm to act as construction manager for the reconstruction of the city’s wastewater treatment facility.
That action was taken in the weekly Monday council meeting, as steps get closer to launching the largest infrastructure project in Sioux City History. Kiewit Infrastructure Company was picked from five firms that applied.
The wastewater treatment plant on the city’s south side dates to the early 1960s, and has been plagued with operational problems.
The first phase of the project has an estimated cost of $275 million, and the entire cost could be $470 million. The council has increased sewer rates as a way to pay for the project, plus federal money from the American Rescue Plan could be tapped.
Kiewit is a national firm, with the closest office in Omaha.
