Seven Days
The League of Women Voters hosted the final candidate forum of this election last week. It was held in the Sioux Falls City Council chambers. The actual room, the actual chairs, the actual seats that the next council members will occupy. I've been in a lot of rooms this year. This one felt like a closing argument.
The Chairs
Before the first question, I looked around the room.
The council chambers aren't abstract. They're a specific place. The dais, the microphones, the nameplates, the seats arranged in a half-circle facing the public. And for ninety minutes, candidates sat in the chairs that actual councilors use. The ones where the votes happen.
There's something about that setting that strips away the theater of a campaign. You're not on a stage. You're in the room. The same one where the data center vote happened. The same one where the multicultural center funding got cut. The same one where next year's budget will be debated while residents wait to find out what it means for their street, their neighborhood, their family.
Sitting there made it real in a way a gymnasium or a library meeting room doesn't.
Five candidates. Same questions. Ninety seconds to close. I've been in enough of these forums now to know what they reveal. Not always in the answers, but in what each person reaches for when they're out of time.
The Fatal Flaw
On data centers, I said what I've been saying for months. They're likely coming. So guardrails matter. Closed-loop systems, environmental impact studies, long-term quality-of-life assessments. We don't have to oppose them outright to hold them to a standard.
What struck me more was the sequence. In January, the city voted on data center rezoning while bills in Pierre were still being decided. That's not a policy debate. That's a communication failure. I called it a fatal flaw in the city's process, and I meant it. The fix isn't complicated. It's coordination. It's knowing what the state is doing before the city acts. It's treating residents like stakeholders instead of spectators.
That's fixable. But only if someone on council is watching for it.
115 Languages
One of the forum questions touched on the multicultural center funding cut. And I said something I'll stand behind long after June 2.
45% of Sioux Falls School District students identify as non-white. Over 115 languages are spoken in this city. And right now, there is no table for those communities at City Hall.
That's not a criticism. It's a gap. And closing it starts by identifying the torchbearers, the people already doing the work inside those communities, and inviting them into the room where decisions get made. Not as a courtesy. As a necessity.
This city is more diverse than its government currently reflects. Equal opportunity means changing that.
In Good Company
Our campaign has been honored to receive additional endorsements that each mean something different to us.
Home Builders Association of the Sioux Empire backed our platform on responsible growth. More housing supply, simpler permits, and a city that stays affordable for the families building their lives here. Our positions didn't change to earn their support. They read the platform and recognized themselves in it. That's how endorsements should work.
Change Agents of South Dakota is one of the most respected nonpartisan civic groups in Sioux Falls, a membership led by former Mayor Rick Knobe that crosses party lines and cares more about reasonable outcomes than political allegiance. Their words were short and plainspoken: "Young. Good communication skills. Admits he doesn't know everything." That last part is the one I'm proudest of.
Run for Something is a national organization that recruits and supports the next generation of candidates running for down-ballot office across the country. For a city council race in Sioux Falls to land on their radar means something. It means the conversation we're having here is part of a larger one about who gets to lead, and how.
Three endorsements. Three different communities. All pointing at the same campaign.
Seven Days
I closed the forum with a Vietnamese proverb my family carries: "When you eat the fruit, remember who planted the tree."
It's a reminder that the best decisions a city council makes may not show results for years. The trees we plant now, in sidewalks, in workforce pathways, in affordable housing, in simpler permits for small businesses, are investments in kids who aren't old enough to vote yet.
June 2 is one week away.
This campaign was built by people first. 120+ individual donors, neighbors, and small business owners who believed before there was anything to believe in. That foundation doesn't shift.
Vote. Polls are open June 2 from 7am to 7pm.
Walk with us. We're at doors every day until Tuesday. Sign up here.
Tell someone. The simplest ask I'll make all year.
Every door knocked is a tree planted for Sioux Falls.
It's always been our city, and now is our moment. Let's rise together. ☀️
— Vince Danh
Candidate, Sioux Falls City Council At-Large | June 2, 2026