Pamela Merchant Cole
State senateSouth Dakota
StateSouth Dakota
District7th
Term start2009
Term end2011
PrecededOrville B. Smidt
SucceededLarry Tidemann
PartyDemocrat
Birth dateDecember 18, 1967 (age 58)[1]
Birth placeWalhalla, North Dakota[2]
Birth namePamela Merchant
Alma materRocky Mountain College of Art and Design[3]
South Dakota State University[4]
ProfessionGraphic designer

Pamela Merchant Cole (born December 18, 1967) is a graphic designer and former Democratic member of the South Dakota Senate who represented the 7th district from 2009 to 2011. She was also the executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party from 2020 to 2021.[5][6]

Career

Cole was elected to the 7th district state senate seat in the 2008 election, beating Republican Orville B. Smidt. She served on the Commerce Committee, the Health and Human Service Committee and the Taxation Committee. She lost her seat at the 2010 election, being beaten by Larry Tidemann.[3]

In 2016, she moved from Brookings to Sioux Falls.[5] She was made the executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party in February 2020,[7] after the party leadership had resigned due to the party misstating its finances and finding itself in debt.[8] In September 2020, Cole announced that the party had been "extremely frugal" in its recent spending and was once again financially stable.[9] She resigned in February 2021 for personal reasons.[6]

In 2022, Cole filed to run for the at-large B seat on Sioux Falls city council as incumbent Christine Erickson was term limited. She lost to Rich Merkouris, a local pastor.[10][11][12]

Personal life

Cole married her husband Mike in 2018 and together they have a blended family of five adult children.[4]

References

  1. ^ "Pamela K. Merchant". South Dakota Legislature. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  2. ^ "About Me". Merchant for Senate. Archived 30 August 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  3. ^ "Pam Merchant". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  4. ^ "News: Cole to seek Sioux Falls At Large B city council seat". Pam Cole for Council. 10 January 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Cole named new SDDP director". The Brookings Register. 27 February 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  6. ^ "Executive Director of SDDP to leave position at end of February". South Dakota Democratic Party. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  7. ^ "South Dakota Democratic Party hires new executive director". KEVN. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  8. ^ Lisa Kaczke (23 October 2019). "South Dakota Democratic Party leadership resigns amid financial woes". Argus Leader. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  9. ^ Lisa Kaczke (3 September 2020). "Last year, S.D. Democrats were in the red. With new leadership, the party now moves on.". Argus Leader. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  10. ^ Trevor J. Mitchell (12 October 2021). "Local pastor, non-profit leader Rich Merkouris files to run for At-Large B council seat". Argus Leader. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  11. ^ Trevor J. Mitchell (10 January 2022). "Former executive director of South Dakota Democratic Party files for At-Large B council seat". Argus Leader. Retrieved 16 July 2022.
  12. ^ "2022 Election Results". City of Sioux Falls. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 16 July 2022.