Dems should leave senate slot empty and think of the state, not the party
Now that Julian Beaudion has dropped out of the Senate race, Democrats must be asking themselves if they can – or should – replace him on the November ballot with a last-minute pick.
My take? No. Leave the slot blank.
Face it, whichever Democrat volunteers to place his/her political carcass on that sacrificial altar is going to get slaughtered. And to what end? Just to satisfy a gratuitous sense of party pride?
Please. Let’s think about what’s best for South Dakota, not what’s best for the Democratic Party.
Democrats would be smart to kiss this one off and throw their support to Brian Bengs, the independent and highly qualified challenger to Mike Rounds.
For one thing, it’s not a pie-in-the-sky candidacy. Do the arithmetic. Political party registration numbers in South Dakota don’t make a Bengs victory out of reach if he can garner solid support from Democrats, independents and those who focus on issues, not party. That last group tallies up in a column titled No Party Affiliation and there are 69,000 of them in South Dakota.
As to the GOP, I’m guessing this state has plenty of fed-up-with-Trump Republicans who are willing to cross over to an independent, if not a Democrat, especially an independent who comes across pragmatically and not ideologically. Bengs talks about money in politics, about healthcare affordability and term limits. If you scroll through his rundown on the issues, you’ll see the concreteness of his campaign.
Bengs grew up working class. He was raised in rural Iowa, delivered newspapers, detassled corn, then joined the Navy out of high school. After his hitch, he got his college education, then went on to graduate from law school at the University of Iowa. He had a 19-year career as a lawyer in the Air Force, then moved to Aberdeen where he taught at Northern State.
He’s about as grounded as they come.
Mike Rounds has been a journeyman politician of no distinction. I’m especially dismayed at his lack of vocal support for the ag community. When it comes to stopping Trump and his reckless economic policies, which have made farming a money-losing affair, Rounds hasn’t had much to say. In a show of indiscriminate fealty to Trump, Rounds has said that he “votes with Trump 99% of the time.” That has to be some sort of record in the annals of political sock-puppetry.
If Bengs can pull it off and win this thing, Trump will have to contend with losing his tool. He’ll have to deal with an accomplished, well-qualified independent thinker making voting decisions that affect South Dakotans.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: from Bengs’ Facebook page
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