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Tesa Schwans · Scene Projects Sports Network

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  This is South Dakota Patriot Broadcasting brought to you by the Scene Project Podcast
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  Network.
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  Welcome to South Dakota Patriot Broadcasting.
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  I am your host, Bubba Startz, and with me today is first-term representative from District 9
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  here in South Dakota, Tesa Schwans.
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  Welcome to the show.
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  Thank you so very much for having me on today.
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  I really appreciate it, especially so close to Christmas.
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  I hope everyone's getting ready for the holiday season and feeling festive.
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  Yes, indeed.
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  We were just sharing off-camera here that my wife and I just got back from Minneapolis and
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  had a wonderful holiday trip before the snow starts flying.
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  And, yeah, it's nice to spend this time with our families, right?
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  That's what this season is all about.
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  Absolutely.
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  And the season is, you know, definitely something that, as a politician, it kind of
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  brings out the best in people as well.
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  And it kind of gives you an insight into what the "we the people" movement is really all
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  about, and that's about family and your faith.
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  Yeah, and it's so funny to kind of juxtapose that with maybe the worst of politicians in
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  October and November.
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  Right.
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  Oh, well, Tesa, before we get too far into the interview, I want to give you an opportunity to
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  just kind of introduce yourself to our listeners and to the world at large and tell us
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  a little bit about what you're all about.
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  Sure.
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  Sure.
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  My name is Tesa Schwans.
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  I am born and raised in South Dakota, so I have the roots that go all the way back to my
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  family, you know, when they came here.
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  They were farmers and ranchers, and so I was a daughter of a farmer and a rancher.
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  My mother was a homemaker, and she raised nine of us kids, so I'm the last of nine.
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  The family farm that we grew up on was way up north in the northern part of South Dakota in a
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  small town between McLaughlin and McIntosh, South Dakota.
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  We had cattle.
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  We had farmland.
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  My dad was a custom combiner, and so he did all realms of agriculture.
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  And so we grew up really working hard for what we wanted.
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  My brother once said that we grew up with everything we needed, but nothing we wanted.
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  And what that did is that it instilled the drive in all of us to really push ourselves to
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  do more and to be better and to push ourselves for the things that we want for ourselves and
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  our family.
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  So from there, my father and my mom, they decided to buy a home in Spearfish.
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  So I actually graduated from Spearfish High School in 1988.
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  And from there, after graduation, I went out to Boston for about a year, took a gap year—that's
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  what they call it now.
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  Back then, there really wasn't a gap year.
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  I just was not ready for college, and so I just took a little time and I was a nanny out in
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  Boston for about a year and then came back.
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  I went to Black Hills State University, and from there I decided I wanted to pursue my
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  degree in doing hair.
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  And so I went to Black Hills Beauty College out in Rapid City, and I graduated from beauty
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  school, and I've really been doing hair since.
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  And I've been doing a lot of different aspects of the industry from, you know, being an
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  educator.
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  I was an educator for Matrix Essentials and Logics International, which was a division of
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  L'Oréal Professionnel.
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  And I worked for them for 18 years on a part-time basis, and then I was still in the
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  salon.
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  So I've worked, you know, usually two jobs, mostly, pretty much my whole life.
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  So, you know, I'm not afraid to work and I'm not afraid to get out there and do what it
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  takes to do the right things.
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  So I now live in Sioux Falls, and so I am with my husband.
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  We've been together for 24 years.
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  We have three kids.
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  We're a blended family.
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  So I have one and he has two, and we're a blended family and we just, you know, really
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  enjoy each other.
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  We have eight grandkids, one grandbaby on the way coming in February, and, you know, we have
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  a very busy, busy little schedule, and so we try to do as much as we can with our grandkids
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  and as much as we can with our children and still keep the balance in our life as much as
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  possible.
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  So that's kind of my life a little bit in a nutshell.
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  You know, I decided to run for politics knowing I'm not a politician.
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  I am a regular person.
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  I'm a citizen of South Dakota that just wants to do the right thing.
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  And I think when you look at the state of our country, you know, in the last couple of years
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  I think a lot of people, a lot of citizens, have felt disenfranchised.
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  They felt silenced.
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  They felt as if their voice was being unheard, and what really compelled me was the ability to
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  have a thumb on the pulse of the community and talking to my clients every day and listening
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  to people and really hearing that they were feeling upset.
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  They were sad, and they really didn't know what to do.
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  And so when the opportunity kind of presented itself to me, I was very hesitant at first
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  because I'm like, what do I have to offer?
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  You know?
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  I'm a hairdresser.
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  I don't know if what I have to offer is gonna be enough to be in politics.
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  And with my faith, my faith kinda took me on the road to, you know, do what was gonna be
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  guided and by the very faith and fundamentals of what it is that I grow up with.
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  So I let God do the rest, you know.
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  So I always call it my Seabiscuit campaign because I kind of came from behind and did a
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  lot of work and did a lot of grit in order to get myself through the primary in order to get
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  into the general.
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  So I feel very fortunate, and I feel very blessed by the people from District 9 to have
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  their faith put in me so that I can be a representative of their voice in legislation
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  coming up in January.
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  Now you say that you don't know anything about politics, but you've worked in health and
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  beauty for, yeah, thirty-some years.
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  I don't know if there's any profession that could better prepare you for dealing with
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  people.
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  Well, it's all politics, and that's what we kind of forget.
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  I think as citizens we think that it's, you know, there's politicians and then there's
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  regular people.
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  Well, actually, the way it should be is that the people that are in politics should be
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  regular people.
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  Yeah.
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  And for you, your job, your career is in the community.
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  You connect with people every single day of your life.
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  You are connecting with multiple people, which probably explains why the voters came out and
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  supported you the way that they did because they knew you.
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  They knew you.
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  And, obviously, just in a, you know, I asked you one question, and you gave me your whole
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  life story in five minutes.
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  Right?
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  So you're comfortable sharing yourself, your experiences.
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  That's what we want.
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  That's what people want out of life.
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  That's what people want, I think, out of their political, you know, their political
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  representatives now.
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  And I think that even if you don't agree with everything that Trump is or that he stands for,
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  the fact that he came out and was just real and wasn't trying to lie and BS you all the way
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  through the election, I think that's what people gravitated for.
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  And that's why you saw the massive swelling, you know, in the popular vote and in everything
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  because people are just sick of the BS.
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  You know?
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  Stop trying to lie to me.
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  Agree with that.
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  All the information is out there.
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  We can learn everything.
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  Like, you can't trick us anymore.
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  And everything that you've tried to do hasn't worked.
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  And now, you know, a billion-dollar campaign and then some couldn't sway the minds of
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  everyday American citizens.
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  And that's the first time in the history of the world that that's happened.
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  Right?
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  These populist movements like we're swimming in right now, and that's the impetus for starting
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  our South Dakota Patriot Broadcasting Network is that the work isn't done.
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  Just because this person or that person is elected, that's just the start.
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  We're just in the beginning of this swelling that we want to, you know, affect the whole
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  system.
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  And yes.
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  A lot of what we're doing and we were talking, you know, preproduction here that it's
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  connecting, and I think you do that extremely well, Tesa.
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  Oh, thank you.
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  Thank you.
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, I love to feel and talk to people, and I think the bigger part of that is actually
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  listening and listening to what it is that is on the hearts of our citizens.
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  You know, and sometimes that can be lost, and I think Trump kind of nails it.
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  You know, he listens to the people.
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  He listens to what it is that we're needing, and he becomes the conduit and the voice for
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  the people, and he gets to push those policies into action.
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  And I think that's the real story about Trump is that, you know, his connection with real
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  everyday people is kind of endearing, and that's what makes people feel as if they are
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  not lost, they are heard, and that they are important, and that what they bring to the
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  table matters.
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  Because at the end of the day, you know, when you look at this, our country, when you look at
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  the state of South Dakota and you have the constitutions, you know, it is about We the
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  People.
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  We the People have the say, and we should not feel silenced, and we should not feel afraid to
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  have that ability to come out and do what's right.
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  And I think that, you know, you being elected is a perfect encapsulation of that.
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  Right?
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  You're not a politician.
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  You're just a regular person, but you're a regular person who listens to these people, and
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  you want to do what you can to help those people.
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  Right?
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  You're not in this to help yourself.
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  You're not in this to seek something else.
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  You are a true public servant.
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  And yes.
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  And that's so important, Tesa.
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  I really must thank you.
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  I'm not in your district.
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  We talked a little bit.
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  I'm out here in Bon Homme County.
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  But I'm very proud to know that, you know, Sioux Falls has representation like you up
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  there that will be listening to the people and doing this from the ground up.
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  You ran a grassroots campaign.
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  You are very just getting your feet wet.
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  Legislative session starts in January, correct?
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  Yes.
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  Yep.
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  It starts January 14 is when we're sworn in.
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  So
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  Yes.
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  So is there, yeah, pre pre, pre that, are is there a way for you to kinda learn it?
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  Do they run you through a process of like, hey.
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  This is what to expect for new legislators and things like that?
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  Is there a little bit of education that happens from the, you know, from the government to kind
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  of educate you on processes and things like that as you move into this new, this new part
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  of your life?
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  Yes.
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  And that's what I have found so endearing and so helpful is the LRC, you know, that's kinda
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  set up through the capital.
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  So Legislative Research Council, and they actually held a three-day forum for us to go
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  through some of those strategies and what it will look like and kind of prepare us for
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  January.
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  So you know I'm sure there's a lot more to learn.
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  I mean there's a lot more to learn but I'm open and I'm willing and I think so are the other
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  new legislators that are coming in and there's 22 of us that are new coming in across the
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  state.
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  And that if that was a voice of we, the people, coming out in full force, I mean, you couldn't
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  have predicted that.
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  You know?
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  So it's probably unheard of to have that many new legislators in just one session.
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  And I know, right?
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  You know, my attorney back in Deadwood, he was a state representative for years, and he just
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  didn't even want to be necessarily.
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  I mean, he appreciated being a public servant, but at some point, he was just running
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  unopposed.
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  Running unopposed.
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  Like, nobody was even challenging me.
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  He's like, I don't want to just let the seat go, but also I kinda wish somebody else would
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  step up to do this.
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  Right?
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  Yeah.
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  And they fought very hard to, and he was a Republican candidate as well, but fought very
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  hard to bring things back to center.
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  Right?
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  He was always fighting for centrist things, and I think that's what's important to look forward
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  to now.
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  You know, we don't have a problem with, you know, our state's not California.
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  It's never going to be California.
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  You know, the liberal ideologies and those things just, they don't sit well with
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  red-blooded South Dakotans.
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  Right?
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  So they don't.
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  Well, while we don't face, you know, necessarily a lot of those problems and issues,
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  there are some of the incumbent Republicans that have been, you know, running in status
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  quo.
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  You know, mostly our state representatives in Washington, D.C., that have really just been
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  there for thirty years kinda collecting a paycheck and hanging out.
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  And
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  Right.
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  To find the candidates that may run against them in primaries and kind of change the way
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  that things are done, we kind of need people to come through the state legislature to do that.
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  I don't think that you can just run with a fresh face completely new to politics and run
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  into a Senate campaign.
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  Right?
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  I don't think that's possible.
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  So a big part of what I am building here with the network and with what we're doing is to
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  find someone who and others, you know, that want to be these candidates moving forward to
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  revamp the South Dakota political system from the ground up.
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  And I think we got a good start.
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  Twenty-two new legislators with new ideas and maybe a little bit more of a pulse on the
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  community like you said earlier.
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  I think that's important.
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  Yes.
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  It I mean, it has been so heartwarming when you go to meet a lot of the current legislators and
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  the new legislators to just kind of get a feeling of where everybody is at and we all
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  bring different gifts and talents to the table.
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  You know because we all come from different walks of life.
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  You know, some are scientists, some are educators, some have been in legislation and
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  then they stepped out for a while and then they come back in.
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  And so you know it's really a good mix of new freshmen coming in that I feel can bring new
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  and fresh ideas from different perspectives.
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  That in essence, you know, can lead us to better policies when it comes to bill making
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  and, you know, having that core South Dakota value kind of coming through in different ways.
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  Well and you touched on it perfectly there.
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  Like, you have to have the different perspectives.
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  My wife works at the school.
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  She's a para.
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  She's also a part of the teacher apprentice program through the state of South Dakota.
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  So she's going to school to get a double major in education, which is great.
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  That's a government program that is, yes, affecting the lives of our students, of our
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  future.
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  Right?
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  We need more teachers.
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  How can we get people in the school that are already working there, that are interested in
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  education and care about these kids?
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  How do we move them up and into this?
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  So, yeah, completely paid for tuition by the state for my wife to go double major, special
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  education, and early elementary to to help that.
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  Those are the programs that that advance society.
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  Right?
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  And I don't know if you get to that I don't know if you get to that point with things like
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  that if you don't have educators in the legislature, if you don't have, you know, other
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  other people and viewpoints represented rather than just politicians and business people.
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  Right.
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  You know?
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  And I think that kinda caps it too because you need a little bit of all of it.
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  You know you can't just have it overwhelmingly, you know, people that are, you know, political
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  science majors in there.
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  I mean, you need a vast amount of different, you know, personalities and different
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  viewpoints in order to get the best policies that will be put in place for We the People.
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  So the committees that I'm on is I'm actually on the Education Committee and I'm on Commerce
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  and Energy.
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  So as a hairstylist, you know the hairstylist industry, the Cosmetology Commission, that all
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  falls under commerce, and so I'm thankful that I got onto the Commerce and Energy Committee.
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  You know?
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  And I'm hopeful to kinda see some of the bills that will be presented in committee.
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  So
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  Well, Tesa, I don't want to take up too much of your time today.
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  I'm sure you're very busy, getting an education and getting ready for the legislative session
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  coming up here in just less than a month now.
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  Yes.
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  I'm sure you have to be so excited.
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  We are excited for you.
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  We are.
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  And for the legislature.
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  I'm very happy to hear that we have 29 new members this year.
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  If you want to toss our number to anybody else out there that would like to speak with us and
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  kind of tell their story, we would absolutely love that as well.
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  Is there anything else before I let you go that you want the members of your district, but also
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  the state of South Dakota at large, to know about you and the platform that you're running
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  on?
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  I would probably end it with, do not be afraid.
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  Do not be afraid as a South Dakotan to get a hold of your legislators within your district
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  and to have those conversations with them.
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  For the most part, yeah, we're busy, but we want to hear from you, and we want to do the
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  best job that we can for you, the people, and keep South Dakota in the place that it is right
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  now but keep South Dakota strong with its connections with we the people.
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  So I would just leave it at that and, you know, wish everybody a very happy holiday season and
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  a Merry Christmas, and let's make 2025 and moving forward the best that we possibly can
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  do.
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  That is first-term Representative Tesa Schwans from District 9.
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  Thank you so much for being with me.
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  You
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  bet.
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  Thank you so much.
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  Have a great day.
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  Thank you for tuning in to South Dakota Patriot Broadcasting.
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  You can get more content and news at sdpatriotbroadcasting.com.
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  The following program is part of the Patriot Broadcasting Project brought to you by the
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  Scene Projects Podcast Network.