No One’s Paying Attention To This Senate Race. It Could Be The Future Of Politics In Deep-Red States.

Filed 1h ago · Via HuffPost · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Bumbly March

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: David Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Brian Bengs, a retired Navy and Air Force veteran, is running as an independent against Republican Sen. Mike Rounds in South Dakota, inspired by Dan Osborn's near-miss in Nebraska in 2024.

Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats more than two to one in South Dakota, and Trump carried the state three times with over 60 percent. But Osborn's Nebraska race drew national money and polling attention, while Bengs' campaign has drawn neither, despite similar long-shot math in a similarly red state.

Local observers like former Sioux Falls mayor Rick Knobe argue the political tide that favored Republicans for years has started shifting slowly since 2024, though nobody is forecasting a South Dakota upset this cycle.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A fellow who spent his career in the Navy and the Air Force knows a long patrol when he's on one, and this is shaping up to be one. Nobody with money or polling budgets is looking at South Dakota, which is exactly the kind of race that sneaks up on people after everyone's quit watching. Whether that's a strategy or just a lonely road remains to be seen.

Source: Read the original at HuffPost → Scored: Bumbly March · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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