Rapid City, S.D. — The latest episode of the Dakota Town Hall podcast focused on South Dakota’s recent gubernatorial debate, local legislative races and growing concerns about affordability and public safety across the state.

Podcast hosts Jake Shoenbeck and Murdoc opened the show by discussing the debate, which drew a large live audience in Sioux Falls. Moderator Patrick Lalley described the event as both challenging and engaging.

“It was really fun. It was a lot of production stuff, but also, you know, with a live audience,” Lalley said. “We had 300 people packed into the Belbas Theater at the Washington Pavilion.”

Shoenbeck praised the structure of the debate, noting that it allowed for a broader range of topics. Lalley added that late adjustments helped improve the format.

“We said we’ll just rejuggle those and we’ll just try and get as many sort of issue-based questions in,” Lalley said.

The episode also featured candidates from across the state, including District 6 House candidate Ned Horsted and District 35 Senate candidate Nicole Uhre-Balk, who both emphasized affordability as a key issue.

“There’s a lot of griping about property tax in the state,” Horsted said. “I’m focused on affordability.”

Uhre-Balk echoed similar concerns from voters in the Rapid City area.

“What I keep hearing are those three things, those three themes: affordability, public safety and education,” she said.

The conversation also turned to criminal justice and recidivism. Uhre-Balk pointed to her experience working in juvenile corrections.

“We need to help these kids find their purpose so that we can get them out of the prisons and part of our community,” she said.

Hosts and guests also debated property tax policy, with criticism of recent proposals that shift the burden rather than reduce it.

“It didn’t actually reduce the tax burden. It just shifted it onto a sales tax,” Horsted said.

The episode concluded with broader discussion on state priorities, with participants arguing that issues like education funding, prison reform and public safety deserve more attention than ongoing tax debates.

The episode also took a lighter turn near the end with a humorous discussion about so called “cocaine hippos” in Colombia. Host Murdoc floated the idea of bringing some of the animals to South Dakota, joking about relocating them to a local attraction. “I’d like them to put a couple out at Reptile Gardens out here because, you know, everybody wins,” he said, as the panel laughed through the unlikely proposal.