Watertown District 5 House Candidate Neal Tapio Discusses Housing, Transparency, and Lake Kampeska
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - Independent District 5 South Dakota House of Representatives candidate Neal Tapio joined host Steve Jurrens live in the Northeast Radio SD studio Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026, for a wide-ranging interview covering his decision to run outside the two-party system, government transparency, housing affordability, data center non-disclosure agreements, and dredging Lake Kampeska.
Tapio, a 1988 Watertown High School graduate and former Republican District 5 state senator, operates a manufacturing facility in Watertown with his brother that employs about 30 people. He told listeners he has knocked on nearly 5,000 of Watertown’s roughly 6,500 single-family doors during the campaign to visit directly with Republican, Democratic, and independent voters.
"I'm running as an independent," Tapio said. "I'm a lifelong Republican. I believe in hard work and sacrifice and rewarding merit, faith and family values and traditional family values. But I believe that the two-party system is completely broken. One party has gotten lost in the weeds—they have eight seats out of 105 legislative seats in Pierre and they've basically become insignificant, and the reason is because they're having a hard time with the simplest things like what's the difference between a man and a woman. The Republican Party, on the other hand, has gotten under the control of their large political donors and these grifting organizations that basically have desires that are different than the average person. And so I want to represent the people, not the powerful."
Tapio noted that running as a Republican in past elections meant focusing almost exclusively on frequent primary voters while bypassing independent and Democratic residents.
"When I ran as a Republican and won, I was a state senator from here—the way you would run is that you would look at the people that voted two, three and four times of the last four elections of Republicans, and you would leave the independents and Democrats out," Tapio said. "And so they weren't even participating in the process. And I thought that I had ideas different enough than the other candidates that I wanted to talk directly to the people."
Individual Liberty, Healthcare and COVID-19 Policies
When asked what he means by putting individual liberty first, Tapio pointed to the growing influence of large corporations, hospital associations and technology companies. He recounted his own severe bout with COVID-19, during which he lost 25 pounds over two and a half weeks and later checked himself out of a Sioux Falls hospital prior to an endoscopy after staff pressed him to receive a COVID-19 vaccine despite his recent recovery and natural immunity.
"You can't shut down free speech," Tapio said. "Anthony Fauci got up and said, 'I am science.' Well, if anybody says that they are science, they don't know science. Science is always questioning the current belief system—that's what science is, you have to have the ability to question."
Tapio, who previously served as vice chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee in Pierre, criticized federal hospital reimbursement incentives tied to patient vaccination rates as well as the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid expansion, arguing that expanding government-funded benefits makes it harder for employers to recruit workers.
"I think it's important to have people in government that are lifelong learners, that are not afraid to stand up against the biggest companies and ask questions," Tapio said. "I don't have all the answers, but I will stand up and ask the questions on behalf of the people."
Open Government, Data Center NDAs and Local Economic Development
Turning to local and state transparency, Tapio criticized closed-door government meetings and pointed to the Watertown City Council’s past closed-session no-confidence vote involving a former city manager, as well as perpetual non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) sought by large data center developers.
“Right now, these big data centers are requiring city councilors and county commissioners to sign non-disclosure agreements that are in perpetuity, meaning that forever they can’t talk about the discussions and negotiations they’ve had with these organizations,” Tapio said. “How can you have representative democracy if the people that you elect can’t tell you what they base their decisions on? That’s not good for our community or our state or federally.”
Tapio also recounted a dispute with the Watertown Development Company (WDC) after he purchased a business during the COVID-19 pandemic, relocated it from Portland, Oregon, to a former Terex building in Watertown, and created 30 local jobs generating roughly $10 million in annual economic activity. Tapio said his company entered a five-year lease-purchase financing arrangement on the $517,000 building based on written projections showing an estimated five-year balloon payoff of approximately $398,000. After making roughly $250,000 in monthly payments over five years, Tapio said the WDC’s executive director presented a payoff figure of $518,000—$1,000 more than the original building cost—because the organization had been making interest-only payments on underlying state loans.
Tapio linked a lack of financial oversight in economic development and state grant programs to past South Dakota controversies including the EB-5 investor visa scandal and the GEAR UP grant scandal.
“The way to combat that is you have to have open and transparent government, and you have to limit the size and scope of government so that malfeasance won’t take place,” Tapio said.
Tapio also addressed an attack ad released Wednesday against his campaign by a group called South Dakotans for Common Sense, which he said is backed by large tech companies seeking state sales tax abatements for data centers.
"What they did though last session was they wanted to have a tax abatement—so they didn't want to pay sales tax in South Dakota for years as an incentive or an honor for them to come to South Dakota," Tapio said. "I said, what are we doing giving trillionaires money from that poor gal that's buying cigarettes for $22 for two packs? Why would we want her and her kids and grandkids to pay for that? That's not common sense. That's, to me, common larceny."
He similarly criticized federal and state incentives for carbon capture pipelines and wind energy projects, calling them a "green energy grift" designed to meet California carbon emission standards at the expense of South Dakota farmers and landowners.
Inflation, Starter Homes and the Property Tax vs. Sales Tax Debate
In the ongoing legislative debate over replacing property taxes with higher sales taxes, Tapio argued that swapping tax mechanisms fails to address the core problem facing working families face: housing inflation and high interest rates.
Tapio noted that six years ago, prior to COVID-19, a $145,000 starter home in Watertown financed at a 3.1% interest rate carried a monthly payment of $610. Following 59% housing inflation over the past six years, he said that same home now costs $230,000, and at a 7.6% interest rate, the monthly payment jumps to $1,580—a 250% increase in monthly housing cost.
"That's what our blue-collar workers—we pay $27 on average an hour in our factory—not one of them can afford a starter house," Tapio said.
Evaluating proposals to lower property taxes by raising the sales tax, Tapio said a homeowner saving $500 a year—or roughly $40 to $50 a month—while paying an extra $20 a month in sales taxes only nets $25 to $30 a month in relief, while renters bear a heavier burden.
"So this idea of you're altering property taxes to sales tax—we live in a city where 35% of the homes are renters," Tapio said. "You're basically pushing even more taxes on the people that are trying to struggle and make it. That's not good government."
To help young people afford homes and avoid high-interest debt, Tapio called for teaching financial literacy in schools and creating a community mentorship and charitable silent-second-mortgage program to help young families renovate older, 100-year-old homes within a 3-mile radius of downtown Watertown.
Saving Lake Kampeska, Ending Spam Calls and Past Legislative Record
Tapio also detailed several additional priorities during the broadcast:
· Dredging and Restoring Lake Kampeska: Tapio warned that silt accumulation and clearer water caused by zebra mussels have allowed sunlight to reach the lake bed, fueling heavy weed growth—including a roughly 10-acre weed bed that poses a hazard to boaters and young water skiers.
o Citing conversations with a major dredging company in Topeka, Kansas, Tapio said hiring an outside contractor to dredge the lake could cost several hundred million dollars, whereas forming a local charitable organization to purchase a dredge machine and operate it with volunteer labor could cut costs by four to six times.
· Cracking Down on Spam Calls: Saying he receives roughly five spam calls an hour on his business cell phone from spoofed South Dakota numbers, Tapio proposed targeting companies that sell phone numbers or generate spam calls with heavy fees or tax measures.
· Refugee Resettlement Legislation: Asked about his prior tenure in the State Senate, Tapio recalled introducing legislation to pause refugee resettlement in South Dakota after witnessing cultural and crime shifts in Minneapolis and other Minnesota cities following his mother's passing in 2011.
o Tapio noted that he paid $4,000 to $5,000 out of his own pocket to fly in experts to testify, though the measure was defeated 8-1 in the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Closing Pitch Ahead of the Nov. 3 Election
In his closing remarks, Tapio said his nearly 5,000 door-to-door stops in Watertown have resulted in roughly 800 conversations with voters across the political spectrum.
"My goal on every one is to say, 'You know what, we might have a disagreement there, but I guarantee that we'd have 90% of other things in common,'" Tapio said. "And the way to govern is to find out what you have in common and to focus on those. Politics has gotten to the extremes where one group is going to use whatever you say against you, and this other group or the big money or whatever is going to demonize you. But that leaves the rest of us without a voice. I just want to be the voice for the people of Watertown that uses common sense and logic and believing that people are good, that we have a lot in common, and that we can make a difference."
The South Dakota general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, with polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters in District 5 can vote for up to two candidates for the South Dakota House of Representatives.
