Bruce Whalen
Bruce Whalen (Republican Party) ran for election to the South Dakota State Senate to represent District 27. He lost in the Republican primary on June 4, 2024.
Biography
Bruce Whalen was born in Rushville, Nebraska. Whalen served in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1991. He earned a bachelor's degree from Oglala Lakota College in 2004. Whalen's career experience includes working as the director of property and procurement with the Oglala Sioux Tribe.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: South Dakota State Senate elections, 2024
General election
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for South Dakota State Senate District 27
Incumbent Red Dawn Foster and Anthony Kathol are running in the general election for South Dakota State Senate District 27 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | ||
| Red Dawn Foster (D) | ||
 | Anthony Kathol (R) | |
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for South Dakota State Senate District 27
Incumbent Red Dawn Foster defeated Gerald Cournoyer Jr. in the Democratic primary for South Dakota State Senate District 27 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Red Dawn Foster | 72.9 | 401 | |
| Gerald Cournoyer Jr. | 27.1 | 149 | |
| Total votes: 550 | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for South Dakota State Senate District 27
Anthony Kathol defeated Bruce Whalen in the Republican primary for South Dakota State Senate District 27 on June 4, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Anthony Kathol | 60.0 | 689 |
| Bruce Whalen | 40.0 | 460 | ||
| Total votes: 1,149 | ||||
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Endorsements
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2022
See also: United States Senate election in South Dakota, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. Senate South Dakota
Incumbent John Thune defeated Brian Bengs and Tamara Lesnar in the general election for U.S. Senate South Dakota on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | John Thune (R) | 69.6 | 242,316 | |
| Brian Bengs (D) | 26.1 | 91,007 | ||
| Tamara Lesnar (L) | 4.2 | 14,697 | ||
| Total votes: 348,020 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Clayton Walker (Independent)
Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Brian Bengs advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate South Dakota.
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate South Dakota
Incumbent John Thune defeated Bruce Whalen and Mark Mowry in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate South Dakota on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | John Thune | 72.2 | 85,613 | |
| Bruce Whalen | 20.3 | 24,071 | ||
| Mark Mowry | 7.4 | 8,827 | ||
| Total votes: 118,511 | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate South Dakota
Tamara Lesnar advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate South Dakota on April 23, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | Tamara Lesnar (L) | |
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Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Bruce Whalen did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Bruce Whalen completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Whalen's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I look up to Jesus the Living Christ because He is God. I search the example of the Apostle Paul because as a Jew his task was to reach the Gentiles while seeking to reconcile peace between Jews and Gentiles.
The recent “look to” figure in my life is my Father-In-Law, Charles Hancock. He sought Jesus and it showed in his attitude and convictions. I was immediately accepted by him as a son and that helped me understand how God can adopt me as His son.
I certainly enjoy the movie Amistad by film director Steven Spielberg. I appreciated the courtroom scene towards the end of the movie where the Supreme Court heard that “Founding Fathers” established freedom and freedom is what the prisoners sought as well.
I do recommend reading of the Federalist Papers.
I believe the attitude and convictions of all elected officials is to Secure Our Rights and to Keep Our Republic. These two mandates bookend protecting Life, Liberty, Property and the Defense thereof.
I don’t want the stress of manufacturing a legacy. I want to go where truth leads me as stated in the Bible, James 1:18 “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures,” and that my children and grandchildren walk in faith and grace because of Jesus.
I recall watching news reels about Viet Nam about 1967, age five.
I was a gas station attendant when I was about 12 years old during the summer and had irregular hours for a dime here and there.
The Holy Bible. It’s God’s guide to me.
My first and middle names are Bruce Wayne. My entire life I was called Batman.
“Holy, Holy, Holy” by Reginald Heber
“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” by Wesley and Mendelssohn
Obeying God. Thankfully, that is getting easier as I am continuing with sanctification.
I believe our Nation’s greatest challenge it to humble itself before God. Mankind is in a spiritual battle with sin, which puts us in opposition with being obedient to God. Sin does not allow mankind to love one another as God loves us. Essentially there are two commands given by God; To love Him with all our mind, heart, and soul. The second is to love each other.
I believe States have the challenge of opposing the federal government when the federal government steps beyond the boundaries issued through few and enumerated duties by States having meeting of minds.
Term limits for federal representation must be determined by a meeting of the mind by States.
No; the experience brought by Senate Representation did not stop the spending that amounts to more than the $30 Trillion that the National Debt Clock indicates. As a chamber of Congress, Senate Representation has not done enough to end abortion in America. The Senate was intrinsically involved with legislating creation of and maintaining Indian Reservations where entire populations of American Indians are “separate but equal” in the eyes of U.S. Government. Were it not for compromised or self-serving interests by members of the Senate we would not now have government agencies demanding to research our Religious Freedom and Medical Rights as a condition of being issued an exemption from an experimental vaccination. Were it not for U.S. Citizens believing that state and national elections were stolen and that we are suffering that consequence, we would not now be seeking Election Integrity.
The criteria I would use is determined by my representation of the State of South Dakota’s Constitution and By-laws and whether the posterity of Citizens of South Dakota would benefit or be harmed by errors or omissions of interpretation of the United States Constitution, as originally intended, by the appointee.
Armed Services, Budget, Indian Affairs, Judiciary
A Rabbi, a priest and a Protestant walked into a bar. Oh, never mind.
I would hope to build a consensus toward conserving the attitude and convictions for reasons why Patriots, circa 1776, opposed the Crown of Europe, to the point of signing their names on documents that potentially meant certain death for themselves and their countrymen. I would like to build a consensus that freedom is paramount and to use the prestige of the office of U.S. Senator to restrain government instead of using it as a club against my countrymen. I would remind U.S. Senators that States assigned few and enumerated powers in the creation of the federal government and that must be respected
No, there must be no room for the federal government to compromise the few and enumerated articles of governance issued to the federal government by states. The federal government must end the habit that leads states to defend themselves individually or collectively against federal compromise.
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.
Note: Whalen submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on December 17, 2021.
December 15 submission
My name is Bruce W. Whalen, Sr. My Lakota name is Tatanka Ihanbla, which means Buffalo Dreamer. My wife, Carol and I have had five children and my oldest son is from a previous marriage. My immediate family and I are Christian. I was raised from birth on the Pine Ridge Indian Agency in South Dakota. At the age of 14, my mother moved us to Salt Lake City, Utah. To say the least it was a culture shock to me and opened my world to what the Pine Ridge Indian Agency severely lacked. More importantly I learned the importance of work and how economies are developed through productivity of People. I resided in Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon between 1976 and 1999. My experience in private employment and Military service were a stark contrast to working in Tribal Government and as liaison to federal and state agencies. I was the South Dakota Republican Nominee for United States House of Representatives in 2006. Elected Representatives hold two primary duties: Securing Our Rights and Keeping The Republic. This is my attitude. Please contribute to the Whalen for U.S. Senate Campaign and vote for me in the June Primary and November General Elections in 2022. Under God the People rule, Bruce W. Whalen, Sr.
- Securing the Rights of American Citizens. We believe, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, that all people are created equal, "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." And all people must be treated equally under the law. We believe our Founders created a Constitutional Republic that evokes rule of law to safeguard our freedoms exactly as written in the Constitution.
- Keeping The Republic. Ben Franklin announced that a Constitutional "Republic" was ratified, "If you can keep it." America is losing its focus to keep the Republic by giving Congress Plenary Powers over itself. America needs to reject being declared as Domestic Dependents and becoming incompetent.
- Under God, The People Rule. We believe according to Judeo-Christian values. The Constitution establishes religious liberty, the freedom of speech and the right to keep and bear arms.
We believe…
• Human life begins at the point of conception and defense thereafter is afforded Due Process.
• All people are created equal, "that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" and must be treated equally under the law.
• The Constitution establishes religious liberty and the right to keep and bear arms.
• A strong national defense is necessary to secure our rights and defend against foreign powers.
• In freedom of speech and encourage robust debate that shall not be confined to oppressive political correctness.
• Our Founders created a Constitutional Republic that evokes rule of law to safeguard our freedoms exactly as written in the Constitution.
• In fair trade, trade that secures our rights, limiting taxation on our productivity and limiting regulations that burden American productivity.
• We believe that men and women in law enforcement, emergency response and the medical profession deserve our gratitude and demand that their ability to lawfully serve our communities is not impeded and does no harm.
• Election Integrity is critical in securing our rights and that only every legal vote must count.
• State Rights prevail over federal regulation concerning education curriculum, Life, Liberty, Property and Defense thereof.
Elected Representatives hold two primary duties: Securing Our Rights and Keeping The Republic. This is my attitude.
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.
Note: Whalen submitted the above survey responses to Ballotpedia on December 15, 2021.
Campaign website
Whalen's campaign website stated the following:
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| —Bruce Whalen's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 17, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Bruce Whalen for US Senate, “Campaign Platform: A List of Core Values,” accessed June 27, 2022
