Latest news with #Bengs
Politico
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Politico
The red state wildcards
TOP LINE Following the unexpected surge of Dan Osborn in Nebraska last fall, two new independent Senate candidates are following in his footsteps and seeking his advice as they hope to recreate his momentum. Idaho's Todd Achilles and South Dakota's Brian Bengs — both former Democrats — are running in their deep-red states as independents in 2026, joining Osborn as he makes another run in Nebraska. The three candidates, who are all veterans, have a group chat, too, where they bounce ideas off one another and share their stories from the trail. 'We're very different … but we're all doing this for the same reason,' Achilles told Score. Bengs, who ran for the Senate seat as a Democrat in 2022 (though he was registered as an independent before and after the campaign), said he probably wouldn't have gotten back into politics without Osborn's nudge. 'He broke the door down for this as a possibility,' Bengs said. Despite the trio's uphill battles to victory next year, Republicans have taken notice of the trend and are working to avoid a repeat of the 2024 Nebraska race. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is hounding GOP senators for lackluster fundraising, even in deep-red states, pointing to a motivated Democratic base that's ready to pour cash into races against Republicans. Republicans are working to quickly paint all of the independents as Democratic candidates. One way they've done that is by pointing to the use of ActBlue, the fundraising platform used by Democrats. Bengs and Achilles are not using ActBlue, and Bengs said that's a conscious decision to avoid being associated with a party he doesn't belong to. Even though Osborn's showing in 2024 was encouraging, it was also a double-edged sword. 'We are certainly on the radar as independents,' Bengs said. 'I think we are going to be taken more seriously by the other side, assuming that we can raise the funds.' Though Osborn's independence is an influence, Bengs and Achilles are both centering their campaigns on their own messages, they said. Achilles, who runs a veteran's advocacy organization, is focused on 'recommitting ourselves to the Constitution,' according to his campaign website. Bengs, meanwhile, said recent cuts to government funding while he was serving as a Park Ranger inspired him to jump back into politics. On his campaign website, Bengs highlights Mahatma Gandhi's seven dangers to human virtue, and said those messages will play an important role in his campaign. Longshot or not, they are pushing full steam ahead. 'We're in it to win it,' Achilles said, acknowledging that an independent run 'is not the easiest path to take,' but 'your duty is to do the hard right over the easy wrong.' In the unlikely scenario that all three are elected next fall, Bengs said it would change the way government functions. 'If you have a handful of independents that actually want some structural reform, that deprive either party of a majority, you can actually accomplish some significant business there and function as a kingmaker,' Bengs said. 'That makes a huge difference going forward for the future of the Republic.' Happy Monday, and thanks for starting your week with Score. Reach me: ahoward@ or @andrewjfhoward. Days until the AZ-07 general: 57 Days until the TN-07 primary: 71 Days until the 2025 election: 99 Days until the midterms: 465 Want to receive this newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to POLITICO Pro. You'll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day's biggest stories. CAMPAIGN INTEL FIRST IN SCORE — DNC REDISTRICTING RESPONSE: The Democratic National Committee is announcing that it will deploy 30,000 volunteers in an effort to reach 'persuadable Republican Texas voters' and talk to them about the ongoing redistricting effort, according to a copy of the plan shared first with Score. 'The DNC is all hands on deck to hold Donald Trump and Greg Abbott accountable for their scheme to use the tragic Texas floods as cover to redraw the Texas maps in a last-ditch effort to save the Republican majority,' chair Ken Martin said in a statement. … The DNC isn't alone in targeting Texas voters on the GOP's redistricting plan. The left-leaning group Unrig Our Economy is putting $2 million into ads across four GOP-held Texas congressional districts that could get more competitive in a new map. The ads are focused on Medicaid cuts, but a senior adviser at the group told Score the districts were chosen specifically because of redistricting. … Democratic leaders are feeling pressure to join a brewing redistricting battle that is threatening to upend the midterms landscape — an effort that is likely to slam into legal and political reality, my colleagues Liz Crampton, Jeremy B. White and Nick Reisman reported over the weekend. OFF TO THE RACES — GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina is running for governor in 2026, AP's Meg Kinnard scooped. PRIMARY WATCH — 'David Hogg wants to change the Democratic Party. He's off to a slow start,' by the Washington Post's Dan Merica and Clara Ence Morse. Merica and Morse report that Hogg's PAC backed out of its commitment to Irene Shin in Virginia, and 'just 18 percent of the nearly $2.5 million the group has spent since the April pledge has been on supporting candidates.' SUNDAY RECAP — 'Massie, Khanna hammer Republican leadership for thwarting Epstein transparency push,' by POLITICO's Gregory Svirnovskiy. PENNSYLVANIA GOV — ''A nightmare that no one wants': GOP fears Mastriano's down-ballot drag in Pennsylvania,' my colleague Holly Otterbein reports. MUSK'S THIRD PARTY — Elon Musk's unfulfilled plans to form an 'America Party' could threaten Republicans already fighting to defend their seats by razor-thin margins in next year's midterms elections, Democrats argued, by siphoning off more disgruntled conservatives from Republicans than disaffected liberals from the Democrats, POLITICO's Jacob Wendler reports. POLLING CORNER — President Donald Trump's approval rating remains underwater. But Democrats are faring worse, according to a new poll from The Wall Street Journal released Saturday, my colleague Ben Johansen notes. STAFFING UP — Michael Muller is joining TargetSmart as their new Senior Strategist, where he will focus on 'guiding TargetSmart's political and advocacy clients.' CODA — QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'I thought it was 'throwing ass,'' former Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about the venue Kick Axe Throwing DC, where she spoke to young voters at the Voters of Tomorrow Summit on Friday.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Musk DOGE cuts motivate former U.S. Senate candidate to run again
U.S. Senate candidate Brian Bengs speaks to supporters on Nov. 7, 2022, at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight) Government cost-cutting led by billionaire Elon Musk spurred a 2022 Democratic U.S. Senate candidate to jump back into the electoral arena. Brian Bengs announced this week that he plans to run in the 2026 election, this time as an independent, for the seat held by Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds. Sioux Falls businessman Julian Beaudion is seeking the Democratic nomination. Bengs said his previous run as a Democrat was out of character. 'The bulk of my life I've been an independent,' Bengs told South Dakota Searchlight, noting that he only registered as a Democrat in 2022 to earn the organizational and fundraising advantage of party alignment. Bengs came in second in the three-way race for U.S. Senate that year. Republican Sen. John Thune, who's since become majority leader, got 70% of the vote, Bengs collected 26%, and Libertarian Tamara Lesnar pulled 4%. There had been 'people telling me to run' against Rounds in 2026 for quite a while, Bengs said, but 'a switched flipped' when Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came for his job. Sioux Falls business owner and former state trooper announces Democratic bid for U.S. Senate The former Northern State University professor and retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel had moved to Hot Springs and taken a 'retirement job' as a ranger at Wind Cave National Park. In February, DOGE fired 'probationary' federal employees – those who hadn't been on the job at least a year. Court orders later reinstated those employees, though most wound up on administrative leave, not back at work. Bengs didn't actually lose his job in the shake-up. No one at Wind Cave did. 'We learned that they had decided they weren't going to fire veterans,' Bengs said. 'I and everybody else were veterans, so we were only spared by virtue of having been in the military.' That was enough to put Bengs back into political mode. He resigned his position at Wind Cave as of this month. Bengs told Searchlight he didn't want to run as a Democrat in 2022, but that 'I didn't have the money to run as an independent.' The party infrastructure opened doors to financing (Bengs ultimately raised about half a million dollars for his 2022 campaign), but it also gave him name recognition and helped him collect a list of potential donors that 'wasn't huge, but it was something.' 'Partisanship is an addictive drug, and it's a drug we've mainlined into our homes,' Bengs said, referencing political media streams. 'We get it on a daily basis.' The small list of donors he collected through his momentary wade through Democratic waters has since grown to a 'multi-million' name list, Bengs said Thursday. That's the list upon which he intends to finance his run this time around. 'If everybody on that list donates even a few dollars, then we're in the race,' Bengs said. If elected, Bengs said he wouldn't caucus with Democrats or Republicans. He'd act as kingmaker, he said, by courting whatever side had a proposal aligning with his values. 'When it's a closely divided Senate and they want my vote, I'm going to say 'what's in it for South Dakota?'' Bengs said. East River South Dakotans vent, call for action at Sioux Falls political town hall That would be part of his pitch to the Republicans and independents who might be wary of casting a ballot for a former Democrat. He'd also point out positions like his belief that it's time to end birthright citizenship. For those on the political left, he'd lean into support for a tax system that 'favors work over wealth,' and his disgust with what he sees as the South Dakota delegation's capitulation to President Donald Trump. Bengs' decision to run as an independent strikes Beaudion as opportunistic and as a telling sign. He supported Bengs in 2022 and said the two agree on some issues, but 'I always have understood who I am and what I stand for,' Beaudion said. 'My campaign is for the people, and we believe the Democratic Party gives us the best chance to lead people in that way,' Beaudion said. 'There has been much more of a steady hand in the Democratic Party.' Bengs and Beaudion did speak about their respective electoral plans, with Bengs telling Beaudion he didn't plan to run. That was before DOGE began targeting federal employees, though. Both men will appear over the weekend at the Custer County Democratic Party's $50-per-ticket McGovern Day Rally at Crazy Horse Memorial, as will District 32 state Rep. Nicole Uhre-Balk, D-Rapid City. Sen. Rounds, in a statement from his campaign staff, responded to Bengs' announcement by calling him another choice for left-leaning South Dakotans. 'It's great that the left wing of the Democrat Party will have multiple candidates to choose from,' the statement said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Democrat Brian Bengs launches independent bid for Mike Rounds' Senate seat in 2026
A once-Democratic nominee for South Dakota's U.S. Senate seat is now entering the 2026 election as an independent. Brian Bengs, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, attorney and former criminal justice professor at Northern State University, declared his candidacy in the 2026 election April 30. He is running for the seat held by Republican U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds, whose term ends Jan. 3, 2027. Rounds has not announced whether he will seek reelection. Bengs, a Hot Springs resident, previously ran on a Democratic ticket in 2022 as challenger to U.S. Sen. John Thune. Bengs lost to Thune, earning 26.1% of the vote to the incumbent's 69.6%. In an April 30 press release, Bengs stated he intends to "unite voters across the political spectrum who are unhappy with the dysfunctional status quo and instead want pragmatic, principled leadership pursuing solutions that will actually improve the lives of regular folks working hard to make ends meet." "South Dakotans deserve a senator who isn't a gutless robot for some political party and Big Money," Bengs stated. "I'm running because the system needs to hear from someone who understands the reality of most South Dakotans, lives like they do, does his own thinking, and isn't indebted to anyone but them." Bengs is the second candidate to launch a campaign for the seat. Democrat Julian Beadion, a Sioux Falls activist and former South Dakota state trooper, formally announced his own bid for the Senate seat April 10. More: Democrat Julian Beaudion announces US Senate run against Republican Mike Rounds in 2026 Rounds assumed his current office Jan. 3, 2015. He was South Dakota governor from 2003 to 2011. Rounds' war chest currently contains about $2.18 million cash on hand, according to FEC data. Both Beaudion and Bengs have established campaign committees with the FEC, but their financial statements have yet to be reported as of April 30. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Brian Bengs launches independent bid for Mike Rounds' Senate seat 2026
