Here’s quirky little data point: in the third quarter, independent Brian Bengs raised more money ($892K) for his U.S. Senate campaign than his opponent Mike Rounds ($433K) and both people running for U.S. House, Republican Marty Jackley ($289K) and Democrat Nikki Gronli ($125K), combined.
Marty Jackley’s total campaign fundraising so far, $1.72M, is pretty close to Brian Bengs’s cycle total of $1.68M. That comparison may not matter much—Jackley is running against a non-office-holding Democrat while Bengs is trying to unseat a well-warchested establishment Republican. Plus, it’s easier to get big donors to invest in flipping a Senate seat than in holding one of 435 House seats. But it is impressive to see any South Dakota independent demonstrate that he can raise as much money as a longtime Republican officeholder for Congressional race… and it is conceivable that, if Bengs deploys his cash effectively, he might get out the vote of a lot of anti-establishment independents who would lean away from the old guard and favor other outsiders (on which synergy Democrats ought to capitalize!).
But the point which I am burying here is that the U.S. House raise is shaping up much more typically than the U.S. Senate race. Establishment Republican Marty Jackley is raising goo-gobs more money than Democrat Nikki Gronli. Jackley raised more than twice as much money as Gronli in 2026 Q3. His total fundraising this cycle of $1.72M is four and a half times more than Gronli’s $386K. And as of September 30, Jackley had $1.18M in cash on hand, almost 13 times as much as Gronli’s $93K.
The arguably more depressing point is that the South Dakota Democrat running to go to Washington has raised less than a quarter of the amount the independent has raised trying to climb the other side of Capitol Hill. In Q3, Gronli’s haul was only one-seventh of Bengs’s.
On the bright side, both Jackley and Gronli report zero campaign debt. Whomever you choose on November 3, you can count on your next Representative to pay her/his bills on time.
That a divorced philanderer like Marty wants to go into a US House seat simply means he can tap into the bevy of congress groupies for hire.
I just heard Bengs say on News and Views on KFGO that he will
not caucus with either party. He will caucus with other Independents.
So— I don’t know if you can say that would be flipping a seat.
It appears Mr. Bengs will have little tolerance for the level of corruption and abuse of power we are witnessing in the current presidential administration. For those reasons he deserves our support. He may not “flip” the seat from Republican to Democrat, but he will aid efforts to reign in Donald Trump. Such efforts will “flip the script” underway in the Trump White House. Republicans have not demonstrated any level of resistance to President Trump’s self-serving agenda. They have failed to protect and support regular Americans. If a Democrat were in the White House and was pursuing this type of corruption and betrayal of American citizens, we should expect the same resistance and push-back by Mr. Bengs.
Mr. Carrels, it appears to grudznick like Mr. Bengs has little tolerance for anyone except hisownself. He’s wound so tight he will certainly snap before the elections and pummel some poor fellow who dares argue with him and call him crazy, or at least brow-beat some young gal to tears.
Mr. Grudznick, it appears to Ben like Mr. Trump has little tolerance for anyone except hisownself. He’s wound so tight he will certainly snap before the elections and pummel some poor fellow who dares argue with him and call him crazy, or at least brow-beat some young gal to tears.
Thank you, Ben. Putting Earth haters like crudzdick is a worthy pursuit!
Goats!
The goats in Spearditch Canyon are going to hurt or kill somebody.
Oh, Grudz. So predictable, so insecure. By always having to say you got goats, it makes one wonder if you really believe it to be true. It’s kinda like the comedian who thinks he’s said something really clever, but is so insecure he follows it up with something like “See what I did there?” He has to make sure that everybody else knows he said a “really clever” thing. Please tell us you don’t do this with your tater and gravy eating buddies. That would make your gatherings even sadder…
Mr. Ben, you amuse grudznick. You may continue.
You know, I live in Nokomis, Florida. While I was streaming an episode of RJ Decker on hulu. One of my ads was for Marty Jackley from South Dakota. Now I’m not sure how this works, but he must really have money to burn!
As far as self control or discipline, Trump has little IF any physically (Defication, Body Odor) or MENTALLY, Bengs can beat him in both categories. Rounds I don’t know well enough to judge, however the Republican Party is beholden to genuflect & kiss the Orange one’s ring.