Former Sen. Tim Johnson, a centrist who was the last Democrat to hold statewide office in South Dakota and who spent nearly three decades in Congress, has died.

Thanks to a rabble-rousing, socialist priest, it’s a milestone year for direct democracy in the U.S. The practice of citizen-originated ballot measures began 125 years ago when South Dakota became the first state to have them.

The Democrats’ fragile hold on the Senate majority has become vividly apparent with the sudden illness of of New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján.