Community
I will fight for strong Communities
I will defend SD Farmers
I will defend Landowners
Support small business
Demand School Choice
Pursue Local, City, & Municipality Control
My family:
My husband Ian and my children Elizabeth and Harvey Enalls and Elijah Fenner (adopted son).
I was adopted by Leo and Delores Istas of Miller, SD, in August of 1970. My biological mother gave me up for adoption after her sister hid her in Yankton and talked her out of aborting me. My adoptive parents were quite a bit older; they came from the Dirty 30s and WWII. They were small business owners: the Istas Miller Bakery and the Driftwood Café. My dad was a WWII Marine Corps fighter pilot and was honored with The Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery in battle (he sunk a Japanese ship that was bombing MacArthur and his men). He lived to be 95 years old! My mother, Delores (Diede) Istas, was all German! She worked so that she could work and then rested so that she could work. She passed when she was 71 and is most likely running The Kitchen in Heaven.
My parents also adopted two other children, Sherri and Shirley (now Casandra). Our childhood was very difficult. In the 70’s, it wasn’t commonplace to see white parents with mixed-race children. It wasn’t vogue, and there certainly weren’t advocates that would give us a voice regarding the racial discrimination we endured. We had everything kids would want to have, our parents worked hard, and we got lots of stuff. But stuff doesn’t heal brokenness, and it doesn’t create acceptance, either.
I share my story honestly, not to express my victimhood. I say it to say….I’ve been there. I know what it's like to be voiceless, and I know what it's like to feel the sting of hatred for something that I literally cannot change. I know what it is to hate myself and to hate the skin I’m in. But it is now my testimony that brings Glory to the Father. My story has led me to live with our Relatives on the Lower Brule Sioux Reservation. That same story led me to run for SD Senate in District 26.
My life experiences compel me to move in a manner that builds community. My years of recovery and recovery outreach, Salvation in Christ, doctoral education contending with toxic issues in small business, and 28 years of being a parent give me the insight to know that when we journey together, we are much more likely to build a community that thrives.
The Journey Together looks different in my mind.
South Dakota is a state of opportunity. We are free, our taxes are low, people work hard, and we enjoy some of the most beautiful scenery on the planet. We are rugged. We can walk through snow uphill both ways, withstand 50-below windchill factors, and endure 103-degree summers. Life is not easy in South Dakota, but it sure is good! Anyone with a dream and a little bit of strategy can accomplish whatever their heart desires. We truly are blessed; it is no wonder people are moving here in droves!
But it only takes a few years of apathy to lose everything.
This is not a fear tactic; it's reality.
But even with all of the opportunities to succeed, the State of South Dakota is host to nine Indian Reservations, all of them compete with Haiti to see who has the poorest economy. Statistics show that our prison population has grown by 31.6% since 2021; according to the Prison Policy Initiative, America “locks up a higher percentage of its people than any democratic country on earth!” South Dakota falls right in line with the Democratic Party demon prison legacy of the 1994 Biden/Clinton/Schumer/Pelosi Crime Bill!
Not everyone is making it.
As a Senator for District 26, it is not my job to make everyone equal, wealthy, or every business equitable and diverse. But it is my heart to build community. That’s not a lofty liberal goal; it is my experience. My adoptive mother worked to work, but she also helped people when she knew she could. She fed the ones who wandered through town by giving them work to do at her café and an all they could eat meal afterward. She held fundraisers in our yard to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy every summer, and she took in three abandoned children when we had no home.
I think of her often when I am standing in the kitchen at The Hope Center of Lower Brule, cooking large meals for Relatives. Over the Christmas holiday (her favorite holiday), my husband and I delivered presents and food to over 480 people; she was often on my mind. It is possible to build community, to walk alongside people when they are broken, and to provide care when possible. In so doing, we build HOPE, and that is Jesus to His core. Giving someone a hand up when in need keeps South Dakota…South Dakota.
So, how does the government foster community?
It stays out of the way.
As a Senator for District 26, I can keep taxes low, do my best to stop radical policies, consider those impacted by the laws we pass, and find ways to collaborate meaningfully with our Relatives on the Reservations. I can also continue to choose to live my personal life as a servant to those who are as broken as I once was. I cannot make you successful, but hopefully, I won’t be a stumbling block to your success.
Anything IS possible.
Below are pictures of the work that we have done over the years. In 2021, frustrated at the lack of outreach for Relatives on the streets in Sioux Falls, my husband and I began an outreach called the Community Revitalization Collective, or CRC. My husband was the Director at the Union Gospel Mission Thrift Store. We worked through his position at UGM to form relationships with various organizations in Sioux Falls to make a difference in the lives of those struggling, sometimes homeless, and often voiceless.
In 2023, we moved to Lower Brule Reservation to continue our efforts with Warriors Circle, a Native-run organization that worked to build up Native men. When we arrived, we were met by a community desperate for a church community, sweet children who needed more than a random once-a-year visit from churches who came and went, and Elders who were carrying the heavy load of community. We collaborated with the Assemblies of God to begin several consistent outreaches, a community church, a rebuild of the church parsonage, and will soon begin a student-centered facility for kids.
