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Democrat Donna Fjelstad to challenge Republican Sen. Bob Gray (Updated)

From the Capitol Journal Pierre, South Dakota Tuesday, March 30, 2010

By David Montgomery

Longtime Pierre resident Donna Fjelstad, a Democrat, will challenge incumbent Sen. Bob Gray, R-Pierre, for his legislative seat this November.

Fjelstad, 71, works for the Pierre Players community theater in Pierre and is on several boards, including president of the board of The Right Turn and a member of the board of trustees of Capital Area Counseling Services.

In the past Fjelstad has been an educator, a state employee and a consultant.

She said her priorities will be education and state employees, as well as listening to the members of the district.

“I was an educator and a state employee, so naturally education of all children in South Dakota and support for state employees are extremely important for me,” Fjelstad said. “State government is one of the major industries in this community, and it’s important that we have the highest quality and best people serving the citizens of our state.”

Gray, 38, a financial advisor, announced his decision to run for a fourth term Wednesday, the same day Fjelstad made her candidacy public.

Gray said demands from his family and business made him consider not running, but he decided to try for another term after receiving encouragement from both.

He said his message to voters will be that his position in the state Republican leadership, where he is the chairman of the state party and the president pro tempore of the state Senate, means he can get things done.

“With a lot of the leadership not coming back in the Legislature next year and with a new governor coming in, I think it’ll be important for this district to have somebody up there who’s been around,” Gray said.

Fjelstad and Gray said they didn’t expect the campaign to be nasty.

"I have respect for him, I have worked well with him, and you will not find me making personal remarks," Fjelstad said. "To me this is not a partisan thing. I believe there needs to be balance in everything we do, and I am offering another option."

“I don’t think it’ll be unlike any other campaign,” Gray said. “I think we’ll both go out there and run our campaigns.”