Why this South Dakota voter supports Joe Biden: 'He still believes in an America that comes together'

'One of the things that was encouraging to me as I watched the Democratic convention was this message of unity and hope ... that’s certainly not something I’ve felt in 2020'

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Natalie LaFrance-Slack is quite certain she doesn’t represent the “average” South Dakotan.

A graphic designer and small business owner, the 35-year-old Democrat has considered the Mount Rushmore state her home for over 15 years, despite holding vastly different political views to many of her conservative neighbors.

She maintains a small office in downtown Rapid City that has served as somewhat of a “getaway” amid the coronavirus pandemic, when she needs some space for her work. With a husband and teenage kids at home due to lockdown, her house is a little more crowded than usual.

Ever since the pandemic hit, South Dakota’s Republican leadership has touted its state as a success story: an initially low rate of statewide coronavirus infections gave Governor Kristi Noem something to celebrate during her many appearances on Fox News.

But that doesn't reflect the reality, LaFrance-Slacks says in a recent interview.

“We have no restrictions at all in South Dakota,” she says. “No mask mandates, no businesses closed. No guidelines at all for any sort of safety. So, while individual businesses have opted to put signs on their door and require masks, our cases are rising very quickly. We’re now at the point where other states were in March and April, because we failed to act.”

(Photo courtesy Natalie LaFrance-Slack (Photo courtesy Natalie LaFrance-Slack)

Just a few weeks ago, South Dakota’s governor invited a reported 460,000 motorcyclists to take part in the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, one of the largest gatherings of motorcycle enthusiasts in the country.

“It was this insane, completely unmasked event welcomed by our governor with freedom flying flags,” LaFrance-Slack says.

Reports say hundreds of coronavirus cases across the country have now been linked to the motorcycle rally, with at least one death resulting from Covid-19 having been associated with the event.

“It’s kind of a failure when you look at how Governor Noem has handled it,” LaFrance-Slack says. “It feels like we’re this ship out to sea without much direction.”

While the Democratic voter has been busy throughout the pandemic caring for her parents, both of whom are cancer patients, she has also been paying close attention to the 2020 presidential campaign trail.

She watched both the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Republican National Convention (RNC), where her governor delivered a ringing endorsement for President Donald Trump.

Governor Noem also claimed Democratic-led cities were becoming “overrun by violent mobs” and added: “In just four years, President Trump has lifted people of all races and backgrounds out of poverty.”

But for LaFrance-Slack, whose region features three of the 10 poorest counties in the country, her governor’s endorsement rang hollow.

“The Republican convention was in a sense painting a picture of America as a very scary and unstable place, which didn’t feel hopeful at all,” she says. “But I think that fear is a really powerful motivator, and unfortunately many of the South Dakotans that I know absolutely respond to that message.”

She adds: “Even though there aren’t really suburbs in our community, and there isn’t an extreme divide between urban and non-urban, there is definitely still a mentality about there being a ‘other side of the train tracks.’ When we create this deeper divide about traditions, or the way people live, it creates this us versus them mentality that really works for some people.”

“The RNC and its message to protect what’s yours … I think it resonated here.”

Check out more of The Independent’s series, Polarized: Voices From Across America

LaFrance-Slack says she had somewhat of a political evolution over the course of her life, having grown up in what she called a “single-issue voting family.”

“The only things they ever talked about were abortion rights and being ‘pro-life’,” she says. “Being ‘anti-abortion’ — which is probably a better way to say that — is how I came to understand both parties and how the divide existed.”

That issue became small to LaFrance-Slack as she grew older. As a business owner, she became more focused on things like local economic development, as well as equality and human rights.

“Marriage equality was very important to me just a couple years ago, and LGBTQ+ rights are very important to me,” she says. “I’m also learning more about systemic inequalities within race in America, and that’s not something I knew a lot about because of the way I was educated and raised.”

Now, LaFrance-Slack says she finds it important to have plans to have national plans for issues like racial inequality and the coronavirus pandemic, adding: “I see that in the Biden and Harris campaign. I do not see that in the Trump and Pence campaign, or in the last four years.”

When it came to the DNC, LaFrance-Slack says she was happily surprised by how she felt walking away from the mostly virtual spectacle.

“One of the things that was encouraging to me as I watched the Democratic convention was this message of unity and hope, and that’s certainly not something I’ve felt in 2020,” she says. “Hearing from a convention with past and current leaders of integrity, there was that message of hope and resilience, of coming together. While it wasn’t so much a checklist of how things were going to change, it was a message of hope that I think we needed.”

LaFrance-Slack voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 — having lived in what she calls “the patriarchy at its finest” throughout her childhood, it was a ballot she was excited to cast.

By 2020, LaFrance-Slack grew interested in folks like Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, past presidential hopefuls who she says laid out plans that would help everyday Americans like her.

However, even though Biden may not have been her first choice, she says she’s looking forward to voting for the former vice president.

“Nobody could have known a year ago that we would be dealing with all of this right now,” she says. “I didn’t know a lot about Joe Biden besides the historical stuff about the loss of his wife and children…things that endear you to him as a person. But as I saw him speak at the debates, I saw that there was something there — that he still believes in an America that comes together and works together … I’ll absolutely be voting for him. For sure.”

“I wish that he could enjoy the last quarter of his life instead of giving it back to us,” she adds with a laugh, “but we’ll take it.”