Howard Dean’s ‘Dozen’ boosts Weiland in burgeoning South Dakota Senate race

On the heels of the news that national Democrats are investing in the South Dakota Senate race, a major progressive group is elevating Democrat Rick Weiland to its list of top-priority candidates.

{mosads}Democracy for America, the group helmed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, will announce later today Weiland’s addition to its “Dean’s Dozen” program, according to details shared first with The Hill.

The designation brings with it increased fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts from the DFA, which was one of the first national progressive organizations to endorse Weiland earlier this year.

“Rick Weiland has attracted the support of grassroots progressives from the very start of this race because of his firm commitment to getting money out of politics, running a people-powered campaign, and fighting for economic justice,” Dean said in a statement announcing the plans.

He joins a handful of top-targeted Senate Democrats — including Sens. Mark Begich (Alaska) and Jeff Merkley (Colo.) — on the “Dean’s Dozen” list. Last cycle, seven of the dozen went on to win their races, and DFA notes that then-state Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was part of the first round of Dean’s Dozen candidates.

The DFA was active for Weiland long before the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced on Wednesday that it’s investing $1 million in the race, in an effort to take advantage of Republican Mike Rounds’s weakness and potentially prevent a GOP pick-up there.

A DFA aide said members of the group made 8,000 phone calls for Weiland during just one night of canvassing, and they plan to keep up those efforts in the coming weeks. And the DFA was part of a coalition of progressive groups that earlier this week announced a $2 million advertising commitment in the race. That coalition includes Mayday PAC, Communications Workers of America, Every Voice Action, Democracy for America and the Progressive Campaign Change Committee.

Even as Weiland drew early progressive support, national Democrats panned his candidacy, believing him a poor fit for the deep-red state.

But with a poll out this week showing Rounds losing support and leading the four-way race by just single digits, national Democrats are tuning back in.

That poll also showed, however, that an independent candidate in the race, former Sen. Larry Pressler, is surging, and in fact more competitive than Weiland, trailing Rounds by just 3 percentage points.