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Life Defense Fund, advertising agency, discusses the use of last-minute campaign contributions

Life Defense Fund, advertising agency, discusses the use of last-minute campaign contributions

SIOUX FALLS, SD (Dakota News Now) – Campaign contributions continue to pour in for campaigns across the state.

One week ago today, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s nonprofit contributed $500,000 to Dakotans for Health in the fight for Amendment G.

Dakotans for Health has continued to defend its fight for reproductive rights and has admitted that they do not have the money that pro-life groups do.

The Life Defense Fund has raised more than $1.5 million. More than 90 percent of those are out-of-state dollars, but critical dollars also come from out-of-state.

“The people of this state want to send a message to the governor of Illinois that we do not want those far-left blue state policies in our South Dakota Constitution,” said Jon Hansen, co-chair of the Life Defense Fund.

The Fund continues to see money coming in even at the last minute with a recent $25,000 contribution of the Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls. Life Defense Fund spokesperson Caroline Woods confirmed that the diocese has donated a total of $75,000.

Hansen says there is still more to do.

“It’s just a mix of the things you’re used to seeing, commercials, signs or other forms of advertising. Our mission is solely education, and the more people learn about Constitutional Amendment G, the more they will reject, we have full confidence in that,” Hansen said.

Ryan Budmayr, VP of Public Relations at Lawrence & Schiller Marketing and Advertising Agency, said the message is built for campaigns at this point, and with time available, much of the effort will go toward voter turnout.

“There’s going to be more money going into text messages, direct-to-voter options, calls and really it turns into how do we get these people to vote, how do we get the people we know to support us?” Budmayr said.

Since last Thursday, just less than a 100,000 voters have cast their votes.

Dakota News Now did receive a statement from Rick Weiland, the co-sponsor of Dakotans for Health, about the contribution to his campaign.

Weiland also commented on comments the Life Defense Fund made about the money Dakotans for Health has received from out of state.