Allow independent Brian Bengs to go head-to-head with Mike Rounds
Rumblings indicate that the usual “just-vote-Republican” South Dakotans may be ready for a change in their U.S. senator.
A May 2026 poll by Emerson College shows Mike Rounds has only a 31.8% approval rating. Former university professor and military veteran Brian Bengs is running for the job as an independent. A Bengs-Rounds race could be very competitive — if only the Democratic candidate would step aside.
Exactly this situation is happening in our southern neighbor, Nebraska. The Independent candidate is seen as having the better chance, so the Democrat is pledging to step aside. That needs to happen here as well. South Dakota Democrat Julian Beaudion is a fine person, but his campaign contributions have been meager and his website shows a dearth of policy proposals — in fact, none at all. Even Rounds’ campaign website is lean on issue specifics.
Bengs, on the other hand, is a U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force veteran, former JAG officer, former university law professor, and former park ranger, running on a platform of accountability, transparency, ethics, and leadership that puts South Dakotans first.
His website outlines specific policy positions for government accountability, overhauling the health care system, immigration and border security, protecting Social Security and Medicare, unrigging the tax code, holding the Supreme Court accountable, establishing Congressional term limits, protecting and serving veterans, balancing the budget, paying down the debt, targeting and eliminating corruption, and other issues.
Rounds has proven himself to be nothing more than another Trump sycophant. He voted to pass the Rescissions Act of 2025 (H.R. 4) which adversely impacted South Dakota agriculture by cutting funding for foreign food aid which reduced key overseas market exports and by cutting funding for local food purchase assistance and food for school programs, which particularly hurt small farmers.
Rounds’ 2025 votes for federal rescissions and budget reconciliation eliminated nearly $1 billion in planned renewable and clean fuel investments in South Dakota, resulting in a sharp decline in private-sector investment in clean energy, halting planned manufacturing and deployment projects across the state, killing 1300 clean energy jobs, and raising energy costs for all SD households.
Rounds feebly attempted to put a positive spin on Trump’s policies as $86 million of South Dakota agriculture grants were cut and Trump’s tariffs destroyed SD soy and corn export markets. Rounds remained silent as nearly 30,000 Veterans Administration jobs were decimated under DOGE.
Rounds took no action when four members of the Oglala Lakota Sioux were rounded up and detained in ICE raids in Minnesota. Along with other Republican senators, Rounds’ recent votes against a War Powers Resolution have hamstrung the Senate’s ability to demand accountability and rein in Trump’s unpopular war with Iran which is driving up the costs of fuel, fertilizer, food and overall inflation.
Rounds has abdicated his responsibility to represent South Dakotans and instead made himself a tool in Trump’s inept, erratic toolbox. Although the MAGA faithful will remain true to him, farmers, ag-dependent businesses, inflation-burdened families, and informed South Dakotans are likely to weigh other options.
South Dakotans who expect more than what is being delivered by Senate incumbents Thune and Rounds should seriously check out Brian Bengs, who would be beholden to no party — only to his constituents. Candidate Julian Beaudion should follow the Nebraska example, bow out, and throw his support to Bengs to enable a competitive Senate race.
And Bengs vs. Rounds would be the most competitive South Dakota Senate race in a long, long while — one worth gassing up at $4.50 a gallon to drive to your polling place come Nov. 3.
Julia Natvig is a retired occupational health nurse for six Fortune 500 companies, a Sioux Falls resident since 2019, a pro-democracy and social justice advocate and co-leader of Common Grounds Indivisible SD. This commentary reflects her opinion, not that of Common Grounds Indivisible SD.
Photo: Rounds at a 2017 congressional hearing, public domain, wikimedia commons
The South Dakota Standard is offered freely and is supported by our readers. We have no political or commercial sponsorship. If you'd like to help us continue our mission to advance independent political and social commentary, you can do so by clicking on the "Donate" button that's on the sidebar to your right.
Follow us and comment on X and Bluesky
