The Times They Are A-Changin'

“I didn’t expect to be spending time in October of this election year... talking to the challengers in South Dakota. Yet... here we are.” —Scott Macfarlane

Polling, polling, polling. Attention is moving to this U.S. Senate race in South Dakota, and for good reason. An Independent candidate such as myself holds a lot of potential in a state both parties have all but written off. We just got back new polling right at the end of the quarter a few days ago, and the results are really exciting.

This poll was done by a well-regarded national pollster, Lake Research. It has me in the lead with 51% of the vote.

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When we started this journey, nobody knew who I was. We started with 28% of the vote. But we got to work. We kept building. Now we are in a serious position to win this race. The race raters are taking notice as well. Seven of the top election forecasters moved the race in our direction.

Regular people are getting more worried about the state of the economy every day. They’re worried that they’ll wake up to spiked gas and diesel prices; they’re worried that a sudden emergency will hit them in this difficult time, and they’re worried that if that happens, they won’t be able to count on their elected officials to do something about it.

All of this is why the polling is looking so favorable toward me, and it’s why I believe we can win this election.

On the initial ballot, I’m down six points, but when undecided voters were pushed to make a choice, it becomes 50-50.

Mike Rounds is still unpopular, with a negative approval rating.

With almost each voting demographic, I am hitting our targets for a winning coalition. Even for the groups where I’m behind, I believe we’ll see the same thing happen as when undecideds were pushed on who they lean toward: They’ll lean towards me.

That movement of undecideds is absolutely crucial. With Election Day on the horizon, there are folks who know how they’ll vote before walking into the voting booth. There are even people across the spectrum who have voted for me already. On November 3rd, there will be plenty of South Dakotans who are still mulling the question over.

We’re trying to get as many voters as possible thinking about their choice ahead of time, which is why I’m touring the state to meet voters on the ground, building grassroots networks of supporters telling their friends and family about me, and doing interviews as much as possible.

Still, we can’t talk to everybody. Much to my chagrin, it’s just a fact of life that I can’t be in multiple places at once, and I cannot meet every voter. That’s why we need to be able to reach their hearts in that critical moment as they fill in that circle to cast their ballot. The way we accomplish that is through making sure they hear my name and message in these weeks leading up to the Big Day.

Thousands of South Dakotans are hearing my name, background, and message right now on TV. I’ve met people who saw the ads, learned who I was for the first time, and cast their vote for me. We need to keep running TV ads all the way until the finish line, and I need your help to make it happen.

Help Support the Campaign Here

Big change is coming, but it won’t be easy. Nothing worth trying ever is. With the grassroots support I’ve received for the past 17 months, and the support coming in during this home stretch, I believe we can achieve a great victory. Thank you for being a part of this movement.

​Thank you for reading.

Lt Col (Ret) Brian Bengs

Independent Candidate for U.S. Senate