I recently caught this article from back in late June that I had missed during the frenzy of the extended GOP Primary for Governor where “pretending to be Indy” US Senate Candidate Brian Bengs made a statement that’s somewhat loaded:
Bengs describes himself as a lifelong independent, outside of his brief stint as a Democrat to run for Senate in 2022. On that experience, Bengs in unequivocal: “I would never run as a Democrat again. That was my takeaway. The whole experience from the ‘22 race was soul sucking and exhausting.”
In fact, it seems like there’s nothing more that Brian Bengs wanted than to be the Democrat’s Candidate without being saddled with the label:
“A lifelong independent, he said he got turned down by the party this time when he sought to run with its organizational support but without the label. Still, he insists he can win without the party’s formal backing.
“One key lesson from his 2022 campaign, he says, was how hard it was to break through with the Democratic Party label.
And with the other Democrat candidate Julian Beaudion being forced from the race, it looks like Bengs has his wish.
While Bengs might describe himself as an independent, there’s a lot that doesn’t ring true about that statement. While claiming to be Indy, Bengs has relied heavily on the Democrat Party’s Campaign Framework. I had written about it briefly in July of 2025, and it speaks volumes of why State Democrat Party Leadership up and abandoned their candidate Julian Beaudion. Bengs has been running using Democrat Party resources all along. From 2025:
Even more interesting is the fact there is a Democrat in the race, Julian Beaudion, yet Bengs is raising money using Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue according to the report. I can’t imagine state dems would be happy about that with Bengs sniping cash out from under him. It also looks like he’s using Dem software firm NGP VAN Inc, who bills itself as the “leading technology provider to democratic and progressive political campaigns and organizations.” …
So… Bengs is supposed to be running as an Independent? Yet uses Democrat candidate infrastructure and organizations to rase money and organize?
Bengs has also tapped into some of the State Democrat Party’s higher profile personnel in support of his campaign. In his latest report, former Democrat Minnehaha County Commissioner Jeff Barth is a major donor at $500. Long-time Dem Party activist Tom Dean is in for $2650. Former Democrat Gubernatorial candidate Susan Wismer ponied up another $500, bringing her to date total to $1500 for Brian Bengs.
And not just monetarily, former Democrat Legislator Nancy Turbak just penned an article about how she suddenly no longer likes political parties, and they need to seize back the reins from Republicans by getting behind Bengs.
What is going on here? Color me doubtful that this is about altruism, as much as a play for the Democrats to be competitive in the US Senate race without actually referring to themselves as Democrats.
But it’s not just the framework for his campaign, or the Democrat Party activists who are supporting this so called Indy while winking at everyone. Look at Bengs’ position on the issues:
He calls himself a fiscal conservative (he wants to balance the budget through a mix of cuts and tax increases on the wealthy) and social liberal (in favor of abortion rights).
Socially Liberal pro-choice candidate? Let’s also not forget Bengs wants a national sales tax..
A value-added tax must be considered as it offers the best possibility of raising revenue to counteract the societal harm resulting from automation.
It’s going back in history at this point, but the value added tax or VAT was a favorite proposal of former Democrat Senator Tom Daschle’s to pay for universal health care among other things. Again, an old Democrat proposal on raising taxes as part of the Bengs’ talking points.
Sorry, but I’m not believing at this point that Brian Bengs is anything other than a man of ambition who knows he can’t win by admitting he’s running as a liberal Democrat.
My father, career law enforcement in the FBI, had a phrase that he would throw out from time to time. “If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, It’s a duck.”
I think we can equally apply that truism to Brian Bengs as well. In the campaign, if he runs like a Democrat, and quacks like a Democrat – I think we can count him on him being a Democrat.