The Senate race in District 32 will certainly be interesting this November. Establishment Republican Helene Duhamel (recruited by Lee Schoenbeck) was unopposed for the June 2024 primary election. Enter into the arena Republican Karen McNeal, who successfully entered the race for this Senate seat as an Independent, and will take on Duhamel in the general election on 5 Nov 2024. Karen has received support from conservative grassroots republicans working to elect better representation in Pierre.
With that, welcome to the “Duhamel Diaries”…
In 2020, Sen Duhamel voted NO in committee to advance HB1057, to “prohibit certain acts against children and provide a penalty therefor.” The content of that bill would PROHIBIT gender transitioning of minors, PROHIBIT puberty blockers, cross sex hormones and genital surgeries on minors. Of note, she was NOT a bill sponsor. Why not? Why would any Republican vote against this type of bill?
Does that sound conservative, or even Republican for that matter, to you?
In response to the immense national backlash and discussion regarding this topic, a group consisting of our more conservative legislators, NOT including Duhamel, brought back the bill in 2023 in the form of HB1080.
In 2023, Sen Duhamel voted YES on HB1080, to “prohibit certain medical and surgical interventions on minor patients.” That vote passed in the Senate 30 to 4, with only the Democrats voting against it. Was this a YES vote because there was nowhere for her to hide and there is significant ongoing polarization with this horrific topic?!
Her flip flop on this topic is suspect and her first chance to save the children from this horror ended in a travesty when she voted NO to advance the bill. How criminal!
