South Dakota Democratic Party to host 2014 state convention in Yankton with keynote speaker DNC Vice Chair & former Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak
***Thursday, June 26, 2014 – Saturday, June 28, 2014***
Sioux Falls, SD – The South Dakota Democratic Party will host its state convention on Thursday, June 26, 2014, through Saturday, June 28, 2014, at the Best Western Kelly Inn Hotel and the NFAA Easton Archery complex in Yankton, SD. 
Democratic National Committee vice chair and former Minneapolis mayor RT Rybak will headline the convention banquet on Friday, June 27, at 7pm.
Deb Knecht, Chair of the South Dakota Democratic Party, encourages all Democrats to attend. “State convention is an opportunity for Democrats to come together, define our values, and create an agenda that moves South Dakota forward,” says Knecht. “We welcome all Democrats who want to take part to apply to be a delegate.”
Democrats who are interested in being a delegate can register here: https://sddp.org/2014-delegate-registration/.
About our keynote speaker:
After serving 12 years as mayor of Minneapolis, R.T. Rybak became executive director of Generation Next in January of 2014. In his current role he aims to make Minneapolis and St. Paul a national leader in innovative, cradle-to-career approaches to youth development, and works to highlight the crisis of our region’s achievement gap and advance effective strategies for ending it.
During his tenure as mayor, Rybak led efforts to revitalize north Minneapolis, attack juvenile crime, make Minneapolis a wireless city, end homelessness in 10 years, and significantly reduce the city’s energy consumption to combat global climate change.
He has been a DNC vice chair since September 2011. In her nomination letter, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz wrote: “Mayor Rybak was the first mayor of a large U.S. city to endorse President Obama’s presidential campaign in early 2007. He is an incredible surrogate for the President and Democrats.”
A Minneapolis native, R.T. Rybak spent almost 30 years working in journalism, the commercial real estate business, publishing and the Internet before being elected mayor in his first run for public office. He and his wife Megan O’Hara, a communications consultant and local-food advocate, have two grown children.